When you call someone, what are you trying to reach? Are you trying to reach a location or a person? I don’t know about you, but I’d be willing to bet most people are actually trying to reach the person they’re calling and are not really very interested in tracking someone down from multiple different locations. If I want to call say, John, and have the option of reaching either him or his answering machine at home, I most certainly do not want to reach the answering machine!
You would think that makes sense. It appears that Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron does not think so. In a recent Engadget interview he mentions:
I want, as an individual user, a phone attached to a physical location.
…
When you own your own house, you don’t want the plumber calling you to schedule an appointment when you’re in the middle of this interview right now. You want that call to go to your house and a message left on your voice mail.
Now that’s just dumb. Could someone please explain to me why it’s more convenient for me to go home to pick up the hypothetical plumber’s message at my house and then call him back, only to find out that he’s gone for the day? And then repeat phone-tag competition the following day. (while living with the clogged sewer)
Hello?! Why can the plumber not leave a message to your answering machine attached to the cellphone subscription? Also, has Citron never heard that you have these things called profiles in cellphones that allow them to be silent when you don’t want them to ring?
Of course, his opinions make perfect sense considering the company’s strategy. I wonder which is affecting the other.
(Heck, how often do you need a plumber anyway? What a stupid example. Or poor plumbing.)
