Is Voicemail Dead, Or Simply Evolving?
I try to steer clear of the typical Silicon Valley blogs. Why? Because they very seldom talk about anything that has a global impact. That being said, a recent post from Michael Arrington, Editor of TechCrunch, has gotten quite a bit of attention lately. The post basically states that voicemail is dead, but doesn’t really give any suggestions as to what to use instead (though he somewhat offers email).
There are 237 comments (at the time of this post), mostly people saying they agree, that voicemail is a big fat nuisance, and so on. I actually realized that voicemail is a complete nuisance several months ago, to the point that I simply never setup my mailbox. That way, when people called, it would just tell them I hadn’t setup my mailbox, and that’s that. I rarely turn my phone off, so if you called, I can see that on caller ID. I probably saw the call come in, too, but was doing something more important. I also don’t often leave a voicemail, choosing instead to simply hang up and send an SMS.
To be honest (and this will sound odd), I hate voice calling altogether. It’s incredibly disruptive, and is really a horrid medium to communicate with. When I call you, I have no idea what you’re currently doing, and whether or not I’m interrupting anything. I’m basically bullying my way into your day, expecting immediate attention, as if I’m a CEO or something important.
James Whatley, blogger extraordinaire at Spinvox, crafted somewhat of a response to Mike’s post, ending with ‘Voicemail has evolved. Come join the party.‘ Brilliant, and spot on. Several months ago, James set me up with a Spinvox voicemailbox, to replace my ‘this user has not setup their voicemailbox’ message. Since then, I’ve come to expect people to leave me a message, and I *love* using Spinvox – basically, because I don’t have to. It just works, in the background, making things easier.
In any case, the point of this post isn’t to praise Spinvox (I do that enough on Symbian-Guru), but to point out that when you think something is ‘dead’, that usually means that there is simply a better way to accomplish the same task. What else is ‘dead’, that could use a little reinvention?
Hummmm I’m not buying into ‘voicemail is dead’, it certainly isnt in the UK… its just so much faster that text and email. For example, you the scenario where you call someone, get their voicemail and so hang up preferring instead to send a text only happens when you have lots of time on your hands! What i can say in 5 seconds takes at least a minute to text.
I think voicemail will be around for a while yet ;)
@Gero – Wouldn’t it be cool though if you reached that voicemail and instead of just hanging up and THEN sending a text…
Why not stay on the line and speak your text to that person?
That’s what SpinVox does. It rocks my socks.
As you say – ‘What I can say in 5 seconds takes at least a minute to text’.
:)
I agree to what is said here, but for one thing. It was always DEAD! When i came back to the states in 2003, first thing i did at t-mobile before i got my line was made sure they closed my voice mail-box. Ive always used the Text feature and has always been better, if someone wants me text me, unless that leave me the hell alone.Am i right or not?
I think the answer to this is two-folded.
When concerning the voicemail itself it is starting to get “old-fashioned”. Another aspect of it is that it often is not very clear what the caller said especially if the caller talks silently, fast etc.
Another question that comes up to my mind is calling machines. Often one leaves a message there. Is that something regarded as a voicemail?
I do see the use here as for instance placing a long distance call and thenafter the call gets picked up by an answering machine. (One would after all leave a message after going through).
Talking about evolution I think, it indeed is natural that we see more solutions of Text-to-speech softwares or features.
As the world gets more digitalized that is just another step into that direction.
Books have already been digitalized for a long time (MobiPocket Reader, Kindle) as is the same for pictures (OVI, Flickr), documents (Google Docs) and other medias (Youtube, MySpace).
I do prefer to talk with my friends on my mobile phone, but I also asks them if they are busy before I start jabbing away. That or either they say that I can call them up again.
(I usually only calls if there’s something really important).
If I don’t reach them I simply send an sms telling them what I wanted.
Another means of communication are online communication without mentioning the services, I believe we all use them.
Also here are there a variety of opportunities.
I guess that it all comes down to convenience and choice.
[...] Is Voicemail Dead, Or Simply Evolving? [...]
Until mobile service providers offer voice-to-text services included in the standard monthly fee, then voicemail is dead.
Right now there are really only two competing services, spinvox, and callwave, and neither one of them will break into the mainstream market with their current business models in time to stop the demise of voicemail in general.
Spinvox is ridiculously overpriced for anyone who’s native currency isn’t GBP, and even if it is, its still questionable if its truly affordable for the paltry number of message conversions allowed per month, and the whole concept of starting the next months service early if you go over the allotment, means that someone who receives 100 message a month, and pays for the 50 message package (as there’s no 100 message package) will effectively be paying for two years of service to cover one, or for those of us in the USA, $475 a year on top of the regular monthly fee we already pay to our mobile provider.
Callwave isn’t much better, costing $180 a year for 40 messages per month, $300 for 80 messages per month, and $600 for 200 messages per month.
At these rates, when people already pay $10-$20 per month for unlimited sms, mms and data, both services are completely out of the pricing of the casual cell phone user.
Of course, lets not forget that Grandcentral may include voicemail transcription services in the future, and its free of charge.
Either offer the service for free, or roll it into something like unlimited service for $100 / £50 per year, then maybe you’ll stand a chance at breaking into the mainstream market.
Well i would have to say that voicemail in Asia is a must. First of all there is the matter of international roaming. If you are traveling and conducting business in this part of the world you cannot rely on called ID to work. It is very common, especially when roaming but also just within your own network for the calledID details not to get handed of correctly between carriers.
Secondly voice to text is all well and good but is it mature enough to transcribe a heavy chinese or japanese accent?
Sure voicemail is a hassle to call in and check but it’s still a necessary evil.
Voicemail IS dead for smartphones! Visual voicemail, locally stored, is a peek into the future. I have a YouMail (www.youmail.com) account, even though I rarely miss a call, and can say that’s the most practical today, yet it’s still too old school.
Voicemail needs to become part of the MMS spec, and utilized differently. The audio snippets could be PUSHed to the device like audio clips in a multimedia message, and stored locally on any typical smartphone with at least 4gb of removable storage.
@christexaport – I have to disagree with you on visual voicemail. It’s still the hassle of having to listen to an audio message, with the same limitations. I.e. if someone leaves me a phone number in their message, I’m scrambling for a pen, or trying to memorize it. That would also be *alot* of wasted space, when a simple text message would be *much* better.