I'm so frustrated with WordPress at the moment. There were lots of malfunctions over the weekend and I thought I lost this entire blog for several hours.
Tonight, I just spent about 45 minutes writing up and dissecting the results of this Harris Interactive Survey on VoIP awareness and adoption in the US and the UK. When I went to save the post (to prevent it from being lost) the system just zapped it — gone, poof!
I'm too tired to recreate the whole thing. The bottom line: Vonage is the dominant brand in consumers' minds; people are interested in VoIP for the cheap or free calling but they're also ambivalent (mostly because of security and reliability concerns) and most are taking a wait and see approach to adoption.
VoIP providers have to do a better job marketing the product, despite growing awareness and could be "preempted" by incumbents who might lower their rates or bundle them with other services. Cable companies that already offer Internet access to an "installed base" of consumers are perhaps in the strongest position long term to offer product bundles that could lure them away from PSTN.
However, there are many complex dynamics — at least in the US market — tied to competition between telcos and cable companies around TV, Internet and phone (and wireless) that will affect how slowly or quickly VoIP penetrates.
My interest in VoIP is tied to the things it might enable in terms of new ad and online consumer products (e.g., VoIP on maps) and thus new ways for consumers and merchants to connect — online and off.
Screenwerk 