Every so often I get asked by a VC about the pain that iotum is solving for customers. It’s an interesting question. Do people really need to filter, rank, and prioritize calls the way that iotum enables? Or, is simply manually screening the call by looking at caller ID good enough?
Well, I say no. And the reason why I say no is the preponderance of evidence otherwise. For many months now I’ve had a daily Google Alert on the keywords Cell Phone Etiquette running. On any given day it returns one to five hits. Today’s hit:
Where have all the phone booths gone?
Asbury Park Press – Asbury Park,NJ,USA
… on my cell phone that, "Yes, 59-year-old men look like lechers if they date 27-year-old women." With that, my self-professed, cell-phone etiquette went right …
I wondered what the heck was so important that he couldn’t rest a few minutes and read a magazine instead of text messaging between calls, and hopping up and down like a Jack Russell terrier on crack.
Google Alerts are an awesome way to track the meme’s that define your business, and to provide abundent evidence of the pain you’re addressing.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You really like Google Alerts? Why wouldn't you just go to PubSub.com and create a subscription for the phrase "cell phone etiquette"….catches many times more hits than Google Alerts…
I got too much garbage from PubSub. But that doesn't mean that it won't work for some people. I just didn't have the patience for it.