A “disruptive innovation” is an innovation that disrupts an existing market. As telephone service becomes an extension of the Internet, the number of ways to make calls has exploded. There are landlines, cell phones, and various forms of Voice over IP including Vonage, Skype, and iChat. Some of these have integrated text messaging and video. Some work primarily as phone services, while others connect between computers. While it may be tempting to enumerate the many options and their merits, the more Mac like answer is to focus on the user experience while minimizing distractions from the underlying technology. We want to communicate:
- from anywhere
- to anyone
- using the best method and device for the task
And we want it to be at a reasonable cost, or even free using our existing Internet connection. In practice, most of us have many ways to communicate and we juggle various options to balance convenience, coverage, and cost. With this in mind, I’d like to use this Blog to explore some combinations I’ve found especially useful or interesting.
Unified Voice, Text, and Visual Voicemail
A Better Way to Keep Track of your Calls
Ins and Outs of Calling via the Net
If you’ve found a solution you’re particularly happy with, I’d enjoy hearing about it (send Email to psichel “at” sustworks “dot” com).