Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 35The ultimate concept of "eSound" (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
Through much thought, we discovered that broadband VoIP has a potential of becoming an infrastructure that can revitalize consumption.
"eSound" materialized as a result of pondering the value of broadband VoIP. In the last episode, I introduced our observation concerning how people are motivated into buying goods as an important aspect of how we achieved the concept. In this episode, I will introduce just how this is reflected in the concept of "eSound."
We do not consider "eSound" as a mere VoIP engine of a broadband codec. We believe it to be an engine that creates products which satisfies both product providers and consumers by driving "convincing consumption activities." We believe "joint creation" will be created by realizing communication that is "ultra-real" on the network.
Recently, there are many economic activities on networks that go beyond the real world. People are capable of not just looking at the appearance of a product, but the internal structure and development history as well. They can get any information if they desired. If people and knowledge unevenly distributed over networks can be connected in real time, the overwhelming amount of information will accelerate network economic activities, exceeding the man-to-man consumption activities of the real world. In other words, more ideal consumption activities can be realized if consumers can compare the abundance of product information on networks to "individual circumstances" and "accurate knowledge" so that they can "understand" and become "convinced."
We believe that "eSound" will play a role of giving such ideal consumption activities a push. Rather than the value of broadband voice as simply realization of communication closer to the original voice, we placed emphasis on the expression and presentment of the expanded voice bandwidth, speaker identification by the broadband voice, and improvement of voice recognition. These are applied not only in person-to-person communication but also in smooth communication for person and machine as well, and will support consumption activities on networks.
"eSound" will support convincing consumption activities
Let's take Internet shopping as an example, where a housewife is considering to buy an air conditioner. From the mountains of information available on the network, it would be difficult for her to heighten her motivation to purchase a product. Accepting information of popular sales ranking will never lead to a satisfying purchase. The structure of the family and the structure of the residence are different. What can one do to find something that suits them from the abundance of information on the network? Using a search engine to narrow down products is a possibility. However, searching individual circumstances that are infinite in variety using a search engine is virtually impossible unless the consumer is proficient in networks.
It is also possible to raise purchasing motivation by calling a call center or a consumer hotline. However, the new network society created by full IP will provide convenience that goes beyond the system of conventional telephone bandwidth.
Let's assume now that the housewife has decided to purchase a product but hesitated at the last moment. In the case you cannot completely trust what the seller is saying, you would probably ask someone in your family you trust. What would happen if the housewife had her sister monitor the voice of the seller and give her assistance by whispering into her ears? What would happen if an influential individual gave her advice by whispering into her ears if her sister did not have sufficient knowledge and the housewife was still hesitant to make the purchase? eSound provides a function of being the "ear." In other words, eSound provides an environment that allows the housewife-in this case the buyer-to hear person-to-person sales and opinions of specialists on the network without her falsely identifying the assistant and seller.
eSound will jointly create products that satisfy both product providers and consumers
Broadband voice reproduces extremely realistic voice. From many of our IP phone users utilizing the eSound technology, we receive comments saying that "communication is fun." However, some say that the voice "is too real and sick." This is perhaps due to the disturbance of psychological distance as whispering in the ear is a very raw form of communication that usually does not exist in real conversation. Then, what would the case be if the communicating party was your fan, or someone you liked? Wouldn't that person's whisper feel comfortable?
Since the conventional telephone was limited to the purpose of transmitting messages, it was never meant to faithfully reproduce the human voice. The application of broadband voice, on the other hand, allows human uniqueness and feelings to be transmitted over the phone. "eSound" will no doubt widen the possibilities of real-time interactive communication.
In television commercials, celebrities suitable for transmitting the concept or the characteristics of a product are often used to appeal consumers and to tie in sales. Celebrities allow consumers to feel a sense of infatuation, and in turn, such infatuation is used to shape the product image and tie in to product sales by gaining affinity. If such an expression as exercised on television commercials by celebrities can be applied in real-time interactive communication, wouldn't a new form of communication be created by changing the relationship between companies and consumers that tend to be one-way?
There are two types of communication that "eSound" can provide.
The first is to increase the opportunity of person-to-person communication by expression and presentment of broadband voice. The other is to increase the opportunity of person-to-machine communication which was limited on networks. This can be realized by providing an environment capable of applying voice recognition performance or speaker identification performance that can be expected to improve drastically with broadband voice.
Let's consider the latter.
Photo 1 Hiroshi Hashizume who touched a chord with the eSound concept and joined us in the incubation program
Both person-to-person communication and person-to-machine communication will increase by connecting "eSound" to automated answering machines and operators of company call centers. The increase in communication will create a deeper relationship between companies and consumers in the sense that consumers will gain understanding of companies and companies will discover the potential needs of consumers. Not only the preferences of finished products, "eSound" will support the clarification of the shapes of products to be provided, as well as at times the location where the products are provided and the quantity. More desirable products can be acquired at the time desired. Consumers will be capable of having better understanding concerning the product they are buying and will be convinced when the actual purchase is made. Not limited to the relationship between vendors and consumers, "eSound" will create a richer life by revitalizing economic activities. "eSound" will prevent wasteful production of products, eradicate unnecessary packaging and allow effective utilization of finite resources. In the end, "eSound" will reduce energy consumption and play a role in the prevention of global warming. We believe "eSound" will have such wonderful, positive spiral effect.
This is the basic concept of "eSound" that we have been pursuing ever since our participation in the incubation program (photo 1).
... To be continued
