Consumer Directory Services: A Work in Progress

The majority of consumers still use a traditional paper address book to keep the names and numbers of their friends and families but the mobile phone and instant messaging services are increasingly important, and points out the way service providers or portals can use directory services--especially enhanced with availability features--to "glue" customers to their offerings. Some 25 percent of households recently interviewed by The Yankee Group said that they always or sometimes keep contacts on a web-based e-mail account. About 32 percent of users say the mobile phone is the device where directory information is kept.