Alec Saunders, and the sort of work going on at iotum really define Voice 2.0. iotum is a company leading the way by example in innovation, partnerships, and action. They're doing this by not playing the "me too" game. Rather, iotum breaks new ground, with a new vision. A vision that intuitively makes good sense.  Yesterday Alec posted Voice 2.0 A Year Later , it's right on point with what several of us have been dancing around in conversations the past few days.

The customer experience predicted by the Voice 2.0 Manifesto is not of a single carrier, but rather of three classes of entities – access, directory, and applications.  As a customer, you’ll pay to be part of the network, you may pay for an identity (and this is an idea who’s time will come, although it’s hard to see today), and you’ll pay for applications that that help you communicate in a diverse number of ways.  This is a very different model from the traditional, vertically integrated, communications network.

The customer experience is key, and the customer is in control. Alec reinforced this a little further along -

In a Voice 2.0 world, control is with the customer.  I buy the services I want, from whom I want.  It’s a competitive market!  In the Voice 2.0 world, the value stack, if you want, inverts. Where the primary means of monetizing network assets in the incumbent’s model was a toll on voice, in the Voice 2.0 model, the primary means is the application.  The access network provider, and the identity provider, are selling their services to the applications provider.  You, as the consumer, choose the applications you want, not just those provided by the company that delivers you access. Voice 2.0 is about you and me,
not the network.

I agree with Alec, there's cause for tremendous optimism. There's a huge green field out there.

Another colleague, Ted Wallingford, compares some solutions and points to a strategy meltdown, or failure to launch at Yahoo. Yahoo's been an easy target of late. They focused on some interoperability with MSN, a feature that's barely functional from either client, and let others move ahead. And as Andy points out, Microsoft's LCS remains pretty much a smoke and mirrors, half-hearted attemp from Redmond to say "Me too. I do VoIP too."

Some would say we're either too critical or not being fair as bloggers. Maybe so. But we're also customer. We're sometimes investors. We're also people with some experience in the industry. Some of us have seen what works and what doesn't a hundred times before. And we're an opinionated lot. And you, dear reader, should balance all of our opinions, whether they be favorable or negative, and make your own choices.

Personally, I think it's incredibly healthy that several of us disagree pretty strongly about the business models we see and the services we see coming from different quarters. I think the VoIP industry has become complacent, and at times, to be honest, mundane. I think there's a need for some good, healthy competition in some areas of the segment, and I haven't seen much of it. There's too much me too and not enough me different.

And if you're different, saying "oh by the way, I'm different," isn't the way to win in Voice 2.0. Shouting how you're different, and showing it every day is the road to winning. Be different and give the customer control.

Aside - This post has wandered through my head taking several different forms as I tried to figure out how I wanted to respond to about 12 posts I've read all in one response. Instead, this is what came about.

Technorati Tags: Voice 2.0, customer control, be different