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A recent article published by the New York Times (Jill Colvin, "You’ve Got Voice Mail, but Do You Care?", April 1st, 2009) announced the demise of Voice Mail and the rise of new technology and services such as Google Voice's Voice to Text and the iPhone's Visual Voice Mail.
According to the article, most people don't bother to listen to their voice mail messages and that the technology is obsolete.
Interesting article but Colvin's article misses the point: most of the new services she presents as examples of technology that is replacing voice mail are actually an evolution of voice mail technology.
Voice to Text, for example, which is included in Google Voice, is a voice mail message delivery mechanism that allows text transcription of voice mail messages. This means that you have to have a voice mail message to begin with. It is new technology that provides a better user interface to recover voice mail messages, precisely what Colvin points out is missing from voice mail.
Other examples in the article include caller id, which lets subscribers know who called them without having to listen to their voice mail messages. Most people are familiar with this service as provided by their mobile phones, but the voice mail platform provides an enhanced version of this service that covers additional scenarios that the device cannot: out of coverage, phone turned off, no voice mail deposit. The service is missed call alert and sits on top of the voice mail platform. Stand alone platforms are also available but they are integrated to the voice mail service.
Finally, visual voice mail is yet another service that sits on top of voice mail. Visual voice mail delivers voice mail messages to the handset through a mobile application that provides an inbox / e mail like user interface that allows the user to browse through the messages and select the message they want to hear.
The interesting question -and Colvin does address this- is how will mobile operators react to these new technologies? Mobile operators have introduced some of these new technologies including visual voice mail and voice to text but the fact is they have been slow to incorporate them.
Companies such as Comverse, Ericsson and Unisys have had services such as Visual Voice Mail, Voice to Text and Voice Mail to MMS for years but few operators showed serious interest until the iPhone was launched.
Voice Mail may be a mature technology but new technologies are breathing new life into this service that has been for many years the biggest VAS revenue generator for operators. Voice Mail has the potential to continue generating revenue for operators as it continues to evolve and adapt to new technologies: MMS delivery, e mail delivery, visual voice mail, converged messaging, web access, voice to text, missed call notification ... this and other variations can offer solutions for specific call scenarios and improved user interface that meet subscribers' needs.
We will continue to discuss and write about these options as well as the opportunities they represent for operators.

"Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity." -H. Jackson Brown Jr.:

Participants at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week got a chance to discuss new and exciting trends in mobile services like Location Based Services, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Advertising and Advanced Messaging services. However, the single topic that stole the show is the economic uncertainty that mobile operators and technology companies are facing. The keynote conference that opened the congress on Tuesday says it all: "Sustaining Growth in Challenging Times"(1).

No one can argue that these are tough times but doing nothing seems to be the current modus operandi of the industry. My friend Mark Pendergast referred to me a great article by Professor John A. Quelch of Harvard "Marketing Your Way Through a Recession". Published almost a year ago, it is even more relevant today: "In a recession, consumers become value oriented, distributors are concerned about cash, and employees worry about their jobs. But a downturn is no time to stop spending on marketing".

With this in mind, I'd like to follow up on recent posts where I shared my thoughts on the best opportunities and top predictions for Latin America in 2009 and why some of the services presented in Barcelona have a good probability for success in the region, despite the current economic downturn.

In this article I will focus on the key factors that can contribute to their success and will follow up with a more detailed market analysis for each service:

• Leveraging existing infrastructure can help operators introduce new services with minimal CAPEX. MMS, for example, has not taken off and other services like Voice Mail delivery to MMS and Mobile Advertising can leverage existing platform capacity. Similarly, SMS based services like Voice to Text and Call Completion can be launhced with existing infrastructure; even if they might require expanding capacity, every additional text message will translate into additional revenue.
• In an economic downturn, subscribers will spend less and ARPU will fall, but operators have other options for generating revenues from third parties. Mobile Advertising is the perfect example, operators can also consider sponsored Ring Back Tones as well as revenue share business models for Location Based Services and Entertainment.
• Data services and 3G have not delivered on the hype but the infrastructure is there; even though data still represents less than 15% of total ARPU in the region, this might be because operators are not offering the services the market wants.

Operators are caught in a difficult position, with limited CAPEX and with subscribers limiting spending; but as Professor Quelch points out, the key is ... "to understand how the needs of your customers and partners change, and adapt your strategies to the new reality".

A year ago, companies and consumers alike were in a state of denial despite clear signs of a recession. The new reality is very clear for everyone to see; the moment requires everyone to get over the shock, roll up our sleeves and get back to work.