VoIP: A Type of Vodka?

Iria

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, might be one of the fastest-growing sectors in the tech industry these days, but that doesn't mean Americans know what the term means. In a recent poll by Harris, for example, one in five think VoIP is a European hybrid car. Another 10 percent of the 1,006 people questioned by Harris said they thought VoIP was a low-carb vodka.

The lack of awareness about VoIP is really a function of how it is branded, said Net2phone senior vice president David Span, who pointed out that many companies are starting to brand the service not as VoIP but as "digital phone" or "digital voice" to make the technology more understandable.

But neither "digital phone" nor "digital voice" is really a better name, said Frost & Sullivan senior analyst Lynda Starr. "Digital has lost its panache because everything is digital these days," Starr said. "Eventually, it's all just going to be called voice, and I am looking forward to the day when we are all just talking about voice services."

Although the service is voice, and IP is the platform, users don't care what the name is, nor should they, Starr said. "They just want their calls to go through."

Name recognition is not the only problem that fledgling VoIP providers have to deal with. Span noted that 35 percent of the households that are already aware of what VoIP is still do not see it as a service that can be used with a regular telephone.
____________
Read More / Source: NewsFactor