At the HD Communications Summit in New York yesterday, a wide variety of conflicts were clarified, but the starkest of those conflicts is that between the business model of the cablecos and telcos and new technologies like HD Voice.
The technology
HD Voice samples a greater amount of spectrum, at least twice as much of it as a regular phone call does, to make calls easier to hear. Early adopters might be first responders, financial companies, medical institutions, and anyone else for whom a small misunderstanding could involve a significant risk.
But in the long term, the technology is likely to succeed or fail depending on whether or not consumers like it. The benefits, such as intimacy, clarity, and simply not having to repeat yourself during a call, will not be immediately obvious to anyone who buys the service because it only delivers clear benefits if the network and both phones are using HD Voice. (more…)