Emerging Communications

Yesterday I got to spend some time at a conference which took place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. I just had to take a picture of this Minitel, which was exposed among a wide array of geeky memorabilia.
I especially liked the Kitchen Computer.

The event, eComm2008, goes on until tomorrow and is the result of Lee Dryburgh’s hard work and perseverance. A few month ago, O’Reilly decided to cancel the Emerging Telephony conference. The community that had crystalized around eTel - an oddball mix, I’ll get back to that eventually - was left without an event to congregate. Lee managed, in record time, to organise this alternative event. I was only there for the first day, and then I had to leave early so I missed the social event in the evening. No matter, the event was/is a success and Lee should be commended for pulling off such a feat in record time. Bravo!

Of particular interest to me was a speaker who likened Voice to Paprika. He claims, and I agree, that Voice - phone service - should be considered as a commodity. Telcos need to adapt to this new reality: stop the branding insanity, concentrate on delivering the fat pipe and let consumers develop the applications they need.

Later I got to catch up with Surj Patel who introduced me to a fun - and humbling - chat with Bob Frankston. We were talking about the concept of telcos as utilities - like the highway system. I pointed out that, just like internet access, roads were of relative poor quality here in Silicon Valley… so we agreed that telcos are to be akin to the sewer system.

Good times. I need to go to more events like this!