The Difference Between 200,000 and 2,000,000

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No I Am Not Talking About 1.8 Million

SunRocket’s announcement today that they have surpassed 200,000 subscribers got me to thinking about JAJAH’s announcement last week about them surpassing 2 Million users and why, given that SunRocket has been around twice as long, they are 1.8 Million users away from JAJAH.

It Has Nothing to Do With Price

I know many will say that comparing the two, and their successes, is comparing apples and oranges, but if making a “phone call” is as ubiquitous as everyone else makes it out to be, then anyone providing the ability to make a phone call can be compared to another who is providing the ability to make a phone call. This is where the comparison though ends for these two. And where the true key to success in this marketplace lies; it is not what your service does, it is what you can do with your service. What does the service allow you to do?

What Can You Do With Your Service?

If success in the VoIP service marketplace is truly about what one can do with your service, and not what your service does, what the service allows or enables users to do, take a look at what JAJAH’s users can do that they could not do if they were a customer of SunRocket, Vonage, Packet8, or just about any other VoIP service provider.

1. First, and importantly, you do not make a call, your call is connected.
2. You can connect a call from a web browser.
3. You can connect a call from a cellular phone with Internet access.
4. You can connect a call from your Outlook contacts.
5. You can have other connect with you from your business or personal website.
6. You can connect conference calls.
7. You can schedule calls and recieve SMS text message alerts.
8. You can send SMS text messages to friends, family, and business contacts

These are things, things that, what I call the “new generation of communicators” want and need in a service, regardless of the transport mechanism. You need to be able to connect with others in more ways than just picking up a phone and dialing a number. Being on the bleeding edge of the cellular phone generation, I can atest to this. We do not want a PSTN replacement - we want a traditional communications replacement. We want multiple, customizable, easy to use communication channels from our single service provider of choice.

Skype Allows You to Customize Your Communications Channels

Skype is a prime example of it is you can do with a service, not what your service does. Skype is not just a voice revolution, it is a communications revolution. In one singular service you have the ability to communicate with your friends, family, and business colleagues, in a manner through which is ideal for each of you. Whether it be voice, IM, SMS, Video, conference calling, desktop sharing, paid services, etc. That is what it takes to be successful today, and most importantly in the future.

So remember potential VoIP and communications providers, it is not what your service does, it is what people can do with your service, what you enable them to do, that will truly predicate your success.