Voice Gives Way To Data: Erosion Of Voice Communications Technology

With all the talk about what the next big tech item will be in the next few years, whether it be the iWatch, Apple Television, flexible displays, wearable technology and the like, one area that has slipped under the radar has been the gradual erosion of traditional voice communications technology. It’s not a headline grabbing piece of tech, but it is of importance to us all as this will see a big change in the way we use technology to communicate with each other, even though most of that change will be on the back end.

The big carriers have known about it for some time. They know that their business has been gradually transitioning from providing land lines and mobile voice networks to data carriers. Within the next decade, if not sooner, we won’t have phone carriers as we know them now. They will morph in to data carriers, and all of our voice communications, including the phone, will be transmitted via data over the web.

Take a look at the rise of the ‘phablet.’ Samsung pioneered this idea with its Galaxy Note devices. To me, they are ridiculously large for a phone, but I can see the appeal for certain people who like to have a nice big screen but don’t necessarily want to be carrying a tablet around, particularly when they can make calls on it.

However, given we can do voice and video calls via the web from a multitude of apps on the tablet (and the phone), why can’t the final step be taken and the phone app be added to the tablet? There have been calls to add the phone app to the iPad as an example. The iPad Mini in particular would work well and serve as a counter point to the Galaxy Note. The last step would be to synch your phone app between devices via the cloud. No matter what device you have with you, you’ll be able to make calls.

But then the carriers would probably want to have control over the cloud synching services of the phone app. This could be difficult given the tech giants in Silicon Valley control the cloud for everything else. If there is stagnation in this area, it will be over this impasse.

The future of communications technology looks impressive, and it will be data-based. The resources available today for us all to use are already incredible, and they will only become more simple, streamlined, and standardized the more we move forward. The days of the landline are numbered as voice communications technology gives way to data.