Importance

October 30, 2003

The Future of Voicemail

Telepocalypse speculates about what voicemail might look like in a non-PSTN world (Voicemail: don't phone home). For example:

You should be able to listen to voicemails on your plane journey home. You should be able to reply to them on a store-and-forward basis, even when you’re not connected to the network. And most of all, you shouldn’t have to use a clunky telephony user interface to navigate a message queue. And you shouldn’t be restricted to one device for accessing your own data.

Absolutely right, of course. I actually have some of that capability right now with my Vonage service. For example, Vonage emails me whenever I get a voicemail message. I am also able to access voicemails via a browser interface, downloading them as MP3s. This is a pretty handy function when I am away from my Cisco VoIP router.

In any case and more importantly, Telepocalypse is making a larger point about how voice services do not have to be tied solely to a telephone paradigm in the future. We need to reconsider all voice or telephone services from this broader perspective.

Posted by Ernest at 11:35 PM
  Comments and Trackbacks (http://www.corante.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/920)

"This is a pretty handy function when I am away from my Cisco VoIP router."

Unfortunately, you have to manually download the MP3s before you hop on the plane. In the Telepocalypse scenario, your device (phone, pda, laptop, whatever) would automaticly check the inbox and download any messages, so when you finally get on the plane and have a free minute, you just push the "play" button and start listening.

Posted by novarese on October 31, 2003 06:11 AM | Permalink to Comment

Absolutely. Vonage's service isn't perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.

Posted by Ernest Miller on October 31, 2003 06:18 AM | Permalink to Comment

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