Tom Evslin writes:
Presence management a key feature of both cellular telephony and instant messaging today will be a key ingredient of voice services in the future. Presence management instant messaging style will eventually crater the lucrative roaming business of traditional mobile carriers and make these carriers themselves obsolete.
Presence management cellular style is an overpriced kluge. The good news is that it will be replaced by presence management instant messaging style once true VoIP over IP-enabled mobile phones is implemented. Moreover, this presence management will make you reachable (assuming you want to be) whether you are on a computer, a PDA, a landline phone, or a mobile handset. There will be no cost per minute for voice any more than there is for instant messaging. Distance will be irrelevant as will location. You will still pay in some form for your IP connection (although it may be in taxes if you are on a municipal network). And some service provider somewhere will have a business model based on providing you with presence management.
