Comments on: On Telcos and content http://www.diversity.net.nz/on-telcos-and-content/2008/07/26/ Commentary and Analysis for User-Centered Technology Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:02:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Hamish MacEwen http://www.diversity.net.nz/on-telcos-and-content/2008/07/26/comment-page-1/#comment-6109 Hamish MacEwen Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:09:43 +0000 http://diversity.net.nz/on-telcos-and-content/2008/07/26/#comment-6109 Hmmm, I'd go further and say in the present and future telcos should stay out of the services game too, and focus on connection and packet exchange. The old telcos had a simple service that was extremely complex and expensive to implement, the exchange of conversation between end-points. Even answering machines used to live on the edge of the PSTN not the core. The difference, and I think it's a critical one, is that POTS was pretty homogeneous and commoditised service (natural and legislative monopoly didn't hurt either) while SaaS is anything but. Note that in the glory day of the telco, there was only one product, voice and no content, that was on the edge. Hmmm, I’d go further and say in the present and future telcos should stay out of the services game too, and focus on connection and packet exchange. The old telcos had a simple service that was extremely complex and expensive to implement, the exchange of conversation between end-points. Even answering machines used to live on the edge of the PSTN not the core.

The difference, and I think it’s a critical one, is that POTS was pretty homogeneous and commoditised service (natural and legislative monopoly didn’t hurt either) while SaaS is anything but.

Note that in the glory day of the telco, there was only one product, voice and no content, that was on the edge.

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