I returned from Europe this weekend, where I attended and presented at Etre. I did a corporate presentation which was fun, and ended up meeting lots of good people afterward. But then I was added to the VoIP panel which consisted of JaJah, Rebtel, Truphone and Wicom. Going into it I was excited to be the only company that wasn’t pitching cheap/free long distance calling – a value proposition from VoIP 1.0. VoIP 1.0 having been delivered by companies like Skype, Vonage, et al. I’ve always been more than excited to pitch the notion that the masses will adopt VoIP only when the following apply:
a) there’s not hardware or software download for the consumer
b) the value proposition applies to any phone (not just a computer softphone, not just a VoIP phone attached to a broadband connection)
c) when it’s about lifestyle based utility – NOT long distance savings
d) when it’s agnostic to the carrier, the handset and the access method
Although when the panel got going I realized that since we were in Europe, and since most attendees seemed to live in Europe, the long distance savings thing was quite alive and kicking. This rang true by the nature of the audience questions. Obviously you can’t pay a $20 AT&T long distance fee and span 2800 miles for unlimited long distance for calls there like you can in the U.S. That all said, my whole point has been that the masses won’t adopt VoIP services unless/until it’s so bloody easy for them and has some kind of new utility/value. I stand by that. I’d be interested in seeing the same panel at a place like CES.
-MC
