Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 34Broadband voice will revitalize consumption (March ~ July 2003)
These contents translated a serialization article carried by ITPro IP telephony ONLINE published by Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. Jump to the original (Japanese).
Shinji Usuba
General Manager
eSound Venture Unit
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd
During the four months of participation in the incubation support program from March 2003, we spent time thoroughly considering the true value of broadband VoIP. And then we were enlightened.
The conclusion we reached was that broadband VoIP has the potential as "an infrastructure that revitalized consumption on IP networks."
The reason is that because "networks can go beyond what's real." Although the general recognition is to substitute the real world with networks, we came to the belief that use of networks spread since they are much more convenient than the real world.
I hate to sound like a Buddhist riddle so I will explain my reasons for the above in order.
The voice quality of broadband VoIP will go beyond anything that conventional telephones can offer. This is obvious since communication is made at close distances — like talking into someone's ear — that people rarely experience in their real lives. However, the value would be limited when using such high-quality telephone voice to only transmit messages. Needless to say, there is the advantage of being able to hear message much more clearly. Rich and entertaining communication will probably increase the opportunity for people to communicate. However, we will be mocked by many if we assert that broadband VoIP would drastically convert the value of transmitting messages.
The true value of broadband VoIP we discovered was not in the voice quality but somewhere else. It is to take on the role as a foundation of society that promotes rich consumption and economic activities through communication that exceeds real voice. This is the conclusion we reached and the concept that lies underneath "eSound," which is becoming materialized.
What is the motivation that determines consumption?
Before going on to the crucial concept of "eSound," I will introduce our observations on how people are motivated to buy goods.
What motivates people to buy goods in our matured consumption society? In Japan, an extremely rich society was built through drastic restoration following World War II. During the early days of restoration, the world was short of goods and it was the age when anything that meets a need or a function would sell. There is no mistake that new things such as home electronic appliances including refrigerators, washing machines and televisions, and automobiles made the lives of Japanese after the War much richer.
What about the present? We are no longer in an age where anything will simply sell. At convenience stores and super markets, wide array of products are newly introduced and taken off the shelf every day. We are now in an age where anything is made and sold. But that does not necessarily mean that it effectively ties in with consumption.
Let's looks at things from the perspective of those manufacturing the goods. Those manufacturing goods have the capability to provide various consumer goods, or the capability to create basically anything. From my experience as a developer of a vendor involved in a number of products, I feel that the options for creating products have increased drastically as we entered the 21st century. I believe that we are in an age where anything can be created when determining a specification given that the product is within the range of normal prediction.
How do consumers view such age? Isn't it the honest truth that consumers have a hard time choosing something due to the enormous amount of products that are created? Recently, you see words like "recommended items" or "sales ranking" as a method to motivate consumers into buying products as if they can see right through your confusion. However, people often times pass on making purchases even with such a "purchasing navigator," since they can't decide for themselves whether or not the product is something they really want.
During actual consumption, people often consult someone they can trust or search people with knowledge for advice before they make the decision to make a purchase. If consumers can "understand" through comparison of the product to their needs will result in a consumption that is "convincing" or "satisfying." However, such people that they can trust or have knowledge are not always around. In fact, they are often times rarely found due to the diversity and complexity of recent products.
Even when a consumer has the will and is capable of purchasing a product, much time is consumed consulting with others before the actual purchase is made. Or worse, the consumer decides to pass on the product by controlling the need to purchase the product. We were made aware of such trends through debates of the incubation support program. And we came to believe that the consumption cycle will run noticeably faster if purchaser and consulting parties share space on the network for quick purchasing decisions.
Are consumers really satisfied?
Are people getting what they really want? To go a step further, are people buying things that they are really satisfied with? Consumers have individual circumstances. Just like sex, physical characteristics, preferences and interests being different for each individual, there is no one that is identical to another. Even if a product is "recommended," it does not necessarily mean that the product perfectly matches the need of the consumer.
As a vendor developer, I have always felt concerned about satisfying the need of consumers, despite the confidence in the rich (and often times excessive) product development capability we have. There is no mistake that we have the power to provide products that "better" or "further" meets the needs of consumers. However, I have always been frustrated by the fact we could not turn the power into an actual shape, or a product.
Some may say that this can be accomplished by hearing the honest opinions of the consumers, as basics of marketing. The concept is to listen to the desires of consumers and perform a market survey when creating a product.
But this is merely a textbook answer. And in reality, things will not go smoothly. The reason is that consumers are incapable of informing what shape that they want by correctly understanding the capabilities of those creating products. In other words, the creating side has the potential of creating anything they want, but can't meet the needs of the purchasing side. And the purchasing side has no way of understanding what the creating side has the potential of creating.
As a result, those providing products are missing the opportunity of selling something had they correctly exercised their capabilities. In the same way, those purchasing products are missing the opportunity to buy something they would much prefer buying. Consumers end up buying things that are outdated when they are capable of buying much better things.
The crucial viewpoint of the "eSound" concept lies here.
... To be continued
