Remember, Bait _then_ switch. Either they'll find a way to monetize it when enough people are using the service, or they will shut it down in a few years along with other unpopular services.
On Tue, 17 Mar 2009, SIP wrote: > Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:26:05 -0400 > From: SIP <[email protected]> > Reply-To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion > <[email protected]> > To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion > <[email protected]> > Subject: [asterisk-biz] Google's voice product [OT] > > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/technology/personaltech/12pogue.html?_r=1 > > The Pogue article is, as to be expected, gushingly lavish with Google > praise. > > Which leads me to a question: how is this envisioned in the world of > consumer VoIP (is anyone even still IN that business) ? The article > mentions that the entire service, single number, VoIP calling, > transcription services, etc. will be completely free and ad-free. Where, > then, is the business plan? > > As we've noticed in our several years of being in business, consumer > VoIP users are, for a lack of a better term, fickle. While > facilities-based VoIP has a certain amount of customer retention simply > because it targets home installations, the rest of the consumer VoSP > world seems to see a rather high turnaround of users. It's still > reasonably newer tech, and those who have the knowledge to put it to > good use treat it, rightly, as a commodity. As long as the service is > tolerable and the price is good, they'll jump ship from one VoSP to > another faster than you can send a SIP REGISTER packet. > > With this in mind, it seems that cost comes first and foremost, and > service quality second. People jump for cost, but they will stick around > an extra five seconds for quality of service, simply because the other > players out there become an unknown. > > But here is Google, pushing VoIP tech (which will almost certainly > integrate into their Google Talk services) to the consumer with all the > trimmings of GrandCentral, plus some of Google's characteristically > flashy, but likely very beta or late alpha services -- all for free. > > With its constant marketing steamroller, and its massive brand > recognition, I don't see, honestly, how 95% of the non-facilities-based > consumer voice products out there will stand up to it. > > But how long will it be the way it is now -- free of charge for basic > services and ad-free? Is this a first salvo to slaughter the competition > as cleanly as possible before the shift in business models? I don't see > how even Google could sustain a product of this complexity and sheer > cost without SOME method of making that cost back, and if common models > of free to pay business marketing have taught us anything, it's that you > can't build a sustainable business model around a service which is > primarily free except for a few bits and pieces that might cost if > people bother to use them. > > Ideas? Comments? Snide remarks? > > N. > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- > > asterisk-biz mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz > _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- asterisk-biz mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
