Indulge me for a second and look with me at the way new technologies introduce themselves. I must admit this may come to some of you as little on the dystopian side of things, but I honestly don't intend it that way. But back to my point...doesn't it seem with every new innovation of technology a bigger and better one will soon follow? I know, I'm so profound. Trust me that I have a much more gross perspective than you might think than one of soley stating the obvious. Imagine with me. Have you ever seen those little annimations with a little fish swimming along who is followed by a hungry bigger fish who is being followed by an even hungrier bigger fish? Sure you have, and it can appear to some as a very pessamistic outlook, but really, it's just a fact of life. The article How the Internet killed the phone business used the term "distruptive technology." How true that is sometimes. I would agree in the contexts of the article that VOIPs are a disturbance and an annoyance to the traditional phone company. I believe that VOIPs will be the big fish that eats the phone company unless it can roll with the punches and embrace it. Do you think that's a possibility?
Along that same idea of rolling with the punches I think it's safe to conclude that one idea spawns another. Edward Davy understood this concept as the railroad company took flight. The advent of the railroad created the need for greater communication among railroad engineers for railroad safety. Davy's foresight introduced the operation of the telegraph.
The history of telegraph offers a clear example of how one technology, in this case the railways, creates a supervening necessity for another, the telegraph. (Winston 1998: 23)
How many times have we seen something like this occur? Clearly demand is the major factor in all this. I'll be so bold to say that we want the bigger fish to eat the smaller one. Why? That's a question I'm interested in knowing myself.
1 comment:
VOIP AS THE BIG FISH?
I agree with you that "VOIP will be the big fish that eats the phone company" only if 1) E-bay and Skype is able to create a perfect socioeconomic union, and 2) the internal company organization and training will be sufficient to meet possible future huge sales demand. These considerations would support the theory of Markus (1987) that "the fewer resources, time, money, or skills, an individual is required to engage in using a technology, the greater the likelihood of achieving the critical mass leading to universal access."
In the article "The Internet Killed the Phone Business," E-bay ("the Big Fish") gives Skype ("the Small Fish") a sales goal to reach. However, there are so many variables ("what if") questions to consider along the way. For example, what if: a) Skype cannot draw-in more consumer-base due to the need for more time and human training/specialization to refine its VOIP for greater consumer demand and features, b) another "Big Fish" eats up VOIP by creating a newer and faster convenient service that is comparable to the technology, and c) wireless network strength varies in different countries (if go mobile around the world)-- not able creating consistency and acceracy?
I see more and more big conglomorates are going online and doing business. In other words, there is another huge market to reach and find-out. They are just trying to catch the right "small fish." I can't wait to see how big VOIP will become, or another conglomorate will dominate online. We (end users) will see!
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