iPhone 6: The killer blow to your desk phone

iPhone6: the killer blow to your desk phone

The humble desk phone has clearly seen a serious drop in use over the last few years. But realistically can your smartphone ever be a full replacement?

In almost every work space up and down New Zealand, there sits an old-fashioned piece of plastic cluttering the desk space – the landline. And if you ever want to actually get in touch with somebody, their mobile remains a much surer bet. The ringing landline gets a sideways glance: “is this another unwanted cold caller”.

But landline phones are not just a problem because they no longer represent the best way to get in touch with somebody: they cost every business money, and they provide a frustrating channel of communication.

While some users like the idea of a work phone and personal phone many people are now forwarding calls to mobile for the convenience of mobile smarts. In part, this is why a growing number of start-ups are skipping the landline altogether, and increasingly even for bigger businesses it’s a tempting consideration even if just for sales staff and road warriors.

All good so far, makes sense and it’s no surprise that mobile carriers or device manufacturers would push this approach, however up until now there has still been a fairly major sticking point: voicemail. In New Zealand no carriers have rushed in with a visual voicemail solution (despite all the social media protests) yet in short this service would make “mobile only” a far more tempting idea. None of this dialling in, back to the dark ages rubbish.

This frustration and a lack of any progress amongst the carriers has led to one local company creating an App to solve this problem. The solution is called Touch Voicemail and it can be found on the iPhone App Store (search touch voicemail) or look here - http://goo.gl/Tc31mk

It has been topping the New Zealand Business category charts since its launch in July this year and it’s handy for those with an existing iPhone or those considering the soon to be launched iPhone6. Voicemails drop into a list and with a single screen tap you can change your voicemail greeting. It’s these kind of mobile call handling smarts that really put the humble desk phone even further off the pace.

Overall who really knows if the “mobile only” concept will be adopted across the board – technology available now makes these choices a practical reality and depending on which one you choose the upside of perhaps a little bit more desk space.

ENDS

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