Embarq is adding an address book feature to its home phones, allowing people to look up an entry and dial it by speaking a name into the handset.
Embarq also is testing a text-messaging function for home phones in some markets. When a text message is sent to a land-line number, the home phone rings, converts the message into audio, and plays it back. The land-line phone user can reply with an audio message or press a button to send a standard text response.
You have to admire Embarq's efforts to add features to landlines that are standard for mobiles. You also have to wonder how well address books, which are personal, and text messages, also personal, are going to translate into a "public" setting, which most landline phones represent.
One-person households won't have that problem, of course. "Public" and "personal" are the same, in such cases. But it will be an interesting test.
Showing posts with label Embarq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Embarq. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Address Books for Landlines?
Labels:
cord cutters,
Embarq,
landlines,
mobiile use,
personal communications,
SMS,
text messaging,
wireless only
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Friday, September 14, 2007
ISP Subscriber Growth Favors Tier One Providers
Not that anybody should be surprised by the latest ISP subscriber figures, but large tier one telco and cable providers are racking up more market share while independent mass market providers are losing share. The one countervailing trend is that providers focused on the small and mid-sized business, such as Covad, continue to grow.
For those of you familiar with the SME space, it is, always has been and always will be a fertile segment for independent providers of all sorts. The latest ISP figures only confirm that observation, again.
For those of you familiar with the SME space, it is, always has been and always will be a fertile segment for independent providers of all sorts. The latest ISP figures only confirm that observation, again.
Labels:
AOL,
att,
cable modem,
comcast,
Covad,
DSL,
EarthLink,
Embarq,
ISP,
NetZero,
Qwest,
Time Warner,
Verizon
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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