Even though not everyone agrees, I believe Vonage is still innovating. OK weather and traffic aren’t the most interesting applications out there but they are sticky. In addition, Vonage is doing the smart thing by coming up with new services as a defense against lowering prices. It doesn’t make sense to be the lowest-priced service. The cheapest VoIP service is the one that will go bankrupt fastest. It makes sense to add features, functions and whatever else you can to give customers the sense you are adding free services for their benefit.
If we look at the software world, many have purchased software that is not the cheapest but is most full of features. We all know most people use a tiny fraction of the features of software but we still weigh features carefully when purchasing.
Now weather and traffic may be available from Qwest as PhoneBoy says but if AT&T offers these services I was unaware of them. They certainly aren’t marketing them.
So in the end weather and traffic are not going to go down in history as the best apps out there but they show a VoIP provider is still adding new services which are far more innovative than just free minutes that most VoIP providers are doling out.
Here are Andy’s comments and I do agree with him when he says Vonage customers would appreciate having this service available from any phone.
If we look at the software world, many have purchased software that is not the cheapest but is most full of features. We all know most people use a tiny fraction of the features of software but we still weigh features carefully when purchasing.
Now weather and traffic may be available from Qwest as PhoneBoy says but if AT&T offers these services I was unaware of them. They certainly aren’t marketing them.
So in the end weather and traffic are not going to go down in history as the best apps out there but they show a VoIP provider is still adding new services which are far more innovative than just free minutes that most VoIP providers are doling out.
Here are Andy’s comments and I do agree with him when he says Vonage customers would appreciate having this service available from any phone.
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Rich,
But 1.0 services aren't innovation. The are evolutionary.
Agreed. Call it Innovation 1.0a
Vonage should be trying to replicate the PSTN a bit more closely.
http://www.phoneboy.com/node/1051