Newsletter ArchiveSUBJECT: Voice Portals and Wireless Directories Welcome to The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter. As I reported last week, I attended a conference on "Voice Portals" and "Wireless Directories." Thank you to John Riggins, with Acxiom, for helping me attend the conference. Wireless devices, (this includes everything from cell phones to specialized web enabled electrical devices) are showering the market and raising anticipation among consumers. Yet, after attending this conference, I think some obstacles remain. After viewing several demonstrations of many great applications using web enabled cell phones, I was struck with the complexity of steps needed to work the applications. While this may be fine for some people, I think it will have to get a lot simpler before the general public will embrace their use. If you think programming a VCR is hard, you probably will not want to get your e-mail on your cell phone. Voice Portals have come remarkably far in the last couple of years. Unfortunately, when one of the speakers from a major company could not get his application to understand him during a demonstration, you know it still needs some work. Please don't misunderstand; at some point in the future we will all be using these applications. It is just going to take some time. People will have to be realistic in their expectations as to when these two areas are going to become an important part of everyday life. All that said, I don't think it is too early for us to start working on making sure our toll free directory is available from both of these mediums. All Contents Copyright ©1995-2001 The Internet 800 Directory Subscribe To The Newsletter: |