Barrons has a story about how Comcast is poised to pass Vonage as the USA’s number one VoIP provider. What’s more interesting is how the story clearly points out how the cable guys are winning the battle over both the startups and the telcos.
This is not a surprise to those of us in the blogosphere who have regularly commented about that type of growth and direction. VoIP is becoming mainstream and the MSO’s are the guys who are taking it there.
What’s interesting is the recognition though is this comment:
“…that a shift in the player at the top of the pile to Comcast from Vonage “represents an evolution from the hobbyist and technophile psychographic who may have embraced VoIP in 2003 to the mainstream appeal the product is achieving now.”
For the surviving VoIP plays out there that remain innovative such as PhoneGnome, Broadvoice, Skype, Truphone, GizmoProject etc. that are still operating there play is not going to be vs. the MSO’s but in some way complimentary to them by providing services, features and applications that allow them to be differentiated, not viewed as a pure PSTN replacement, the way Vonage is.
I think that Comcast is making huge inroads because they aren’t selling “VoIP”, but rather “digital voice”. My sister and her husband have it in Parker, Colorado, yet have no idea what VoIP is. They only know they have telephone service from the Cable company.
I guess it never occurred to them that something was different when they were not using the existing wall jacks but use a multi-handset cordless set-up instead.
“Hey, I’m not selling you lemons…these are tart oranges.”
Clever, those Comcast boys.
The second advantage, bundling, is undeniable. Most non-techies I know (my sister in CO with a cable bundle, my wife’s parents in CA with a fiber bundle, both my cousin and my aunt in New York with cable bundles, etc.) enjoy the bundled packages. Some of them don’t want to have to shop for multiple providers, nor do they even know what they are shopping for, in some respects, so the complete package is a godsend for them.
Personally, I prefer a-la-carte models for my services. In addition to being picky by nature, I also only want to pay for those pieces I actually use. But I am certainly in a minority shrinking segment especially with HDTV/IPTV/On-Demand-Video as part of the bundles.
I don’t see how any stand-alone VoIP provider is going to steal significant market share in the future, especially now that the lumbering incumbents and cable monopolies are totally up to speed with the technology. Are there even enough left for an aggressive roll-up and cost-cutting approach?