Move up/move over etc etc. The market that everyone is thinkin of for this.. in the 100 mil users range if you say half of those with a wireless phone in 5 yrs.. is big enough for ALOT of competitors before crowding out begins to occur. Look at the semiconductor market for example.. they had wht.. 20 years before crowding out and consolidation STARTED? The market niches be they in inferior services (ie: touchtone activated technologies) or using specialized sales channels with co-marketing agreements etc, are innumerable at this time. At my count there are only 8 major providers of the personal assistant service, with General Magic being the last one to release their product. I haven't heard of any others "breaking into" the market. Call Sciences, Linx Communications, NetworkMCI, Premiere Tehcnologies (PTEK), and Startouch all use keypad activateed follow me/find me/blast me/ fax store/pager voicemail, etc services. They are in the same price range as Webley, the cheapest voice-activated service I know of at 19.95$ a month (29.95$ with email notification and 32-way conference calling), if not cheaper. (Wildfire costs an absurd 150$ setup fee plus 89$ a month for 500 minutes) I think these services will grow at an equal rate, if not a slightly greater rate at first, than GMGC or the other voice rec's because they are simple to use and cost effective for the majority of the functions people desire. But I don't think anyone in this still brand-new market should worry about not making their margins (unless you are PTEK sued by four law firms for shareholder fraud) as long as they are careful about not overstepping their technological and intellectual bounds.
Bullish on the future of the Personal Assistant Market...
JC |
