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Customer: Hi ! I'd like to sign up for your phone service !
Convergent Agent: Fantastic ! We have a flat rate of $20 per month. You get email, SMS, video, voice, weather reports, stock portfolio, bank account linking and push to talk as our 'basic service'
Customer: Uhh.... how much cheaper if I just want to talk ?
Convergent Agent: Actually, for just voice, monthly rate is $45 instead of $20. We charge you to take away services, not add them in.
A ridiculous situation ? A little far fetched, maybe. But if you think it is ridiculous and who would want to simplify such great features, did you read about Kosher Phones ?
A smart Israeli company has identified a niche market to sell 'dumbed down' phones to a particular segment who believe the new fangled services is contrary to their beliefs and may complicate their lives uneccessary. This company (MIRS) takes regular phones from motorola and others and dumbs them down to serve to orthodox Jewish communities and from what I read in a recent WSJ article titled 'Put God on the line', it already has a customer base of 70,000+ customers.
But really, this concept goes far beyond 'religious preference'. It addresses a much more basic question - how much of convergence do we really need ? And who is looking into balancing convergence with the security implications ?
Now here we see, some smart cookies take a step back and go back to the old philosphy of 'less is more' and have applied it to be a profitable business model.
Food for thought ?
Maintained by: ARC ( arjun@hsc.com )
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