Parsing Jeff Pulver’s next big thing

But I’m sure some of you creative types can come up with more. It’s easy to be cynical about Pulver’s change of heart when there is a commercial venture at stake, but it’s hard, if not impossible, to dismiss what he is saying about HD voice for several reasons.

First, as long as I’ve known Jeff — and that’s been quite a while — he’s never been dead wrong about a technology trend. Whether it was VoIP, Internet TV or social networking, Jeff has tended to be ahead of the crowd — at least the crowd of adults — in realizing what was happening and the likely business consequences. That’s not to say he’s always been able to capitalize personally on that expertise.

Second, Pulver also has skin in the game, so he has picked his games with an eye toward business success.

Third, businesses can see the value of higher quality phone calls. Road warriors on their cell phones, conference calls with one room full of people communicating with another, and everyday conversations that are critical all could benefit from better quality voice signals. As someone who makes a living based on telephone interviews of diverse individuals on technology topics, I may be more sensitive to this than most. But I think we all can remember some time in the very recent past when a better connection would have made a conversation more productive.

Are all the benefits of HD voice clear to me right now? No, but then neither were all the benefits of other Pulver ideas at the time he had them. This, like most of Jeff’s other revelations, is intriguing and worth a closer look. Would you agree?

E-mail me at cwilson3@telephonyonline.com.