Before the year’s out, many Internet telephony programs should support conference calling, call answering, voice-data integration, Web site setups, and other interesting tricks like voice avatars, which allow you to design a voice you like. Probable Internet markets include Internet ham radio, casual social and family communications, event telephony, games, Web tours, talk radio, Web shopping, and “hoot-and-holler circuits.” Right now, hoot-and-hollers act like wide-area intercoms for trading companies that want to alert people in a field to important developments. The lower costs mean that public spaces can be defined at will. For instance, a group of artists might want to connect their respective studios into a group atelier.
Predictor: Hapgood, Fred
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Wired magazine, Fred Hapgood covers the issues surrounding Internet telephony. Hapgood writes: ”Since Internet telephony is end-to-end digital, all the ‘integrated services’ can be ported into the technology. Before the year’s out, many Internet telephony programs should support conference calling, call answering, voice-data integration, Web site setups, and other interesting tricks like voice avatars, which allow you to design a voice you like. Probable Internet markets include Internet ham radio, casual social and family communications, event telephony, games, Web tours, talk radio, Web shopping, and ‘hoot-and-holler circuits.’ Right now, hoot-and-hollers act like wide-area intercoms for trading companies that want to alert people in a field to important developments. The lower costs mean that public spaces can be defined at will. For instance, a group of artists might want to connect their respective studios into a group atelier. These applications do not raise an obvious threat to telco revenues, since they represent new business.”
Biography:Fred Hapgood took on the role of moderator of the Nanosystems Interest Group at MIT and wrote a number of articles for Wired and other tech publications of the early 1990s. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Internet Telephony
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: IPhone: Will Telephony on the Net Bring the Telcos to Their Knees? Or Will it Allow Them to Take Over the Internet? (And, Oh, Yes, It’s Damn Hard to Tap)
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.10/iphone_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney