Ordinary Telephones

There is a disparity in the digital revolution today. While mobile phones have been transformed by the iPhone revolution, ordinary telephones remain technologically backward.

There are uses for more advanced ordinary telephones like contacts, blacklists, corporate CRM, etc. Thus, the absence of a telephone revolution begs the question whether this is a historical accident or a feature of the digital revolution.

Stephen J. Kline and Nathan Rosenberg theorized that commercial innovation is controlled by two distinct sets of forces that interact with one another in subtle and unpredictable ways. On the one hand is market forces, and on the other, technology. There is no technological barrier for adding advanced features to ordinary telephones. Do market forces prohibit the introduction of advanced telephones or merely reflect a lack of concern?

Innovations aspire to become the future of mankind, but countless innovations bite the dust under market selection. The famous need to bet on future technology is hard to practice, yet necessary. The iPhone revolution retired feature phones and Nokia was hit hard. Failure to correctly bet on future technology costs dear. Is advanced telephone the future, or another technological flop?

Hardware update cycle for advanced telephones seems much longer than mobile phones. The willingness to pay for a costly advanced telephone seems low. Profit considerations could prohibit a telephone revolution.

If profit constraints could be overcome, the eventual advanced telephone might look very similar to a iPod Touch with a recharging stand, with significant differences regarding number of users, app orientations, appliances, etc.