A VoIP Veteran Leaves Town.

Knowing Brian McConnell personally, I am sorry to see him leave the industry. Brian has great respect for UI and user experience as a whole, something that - remarkably - still lacks in telecom. Although it’s better than it used to be. Web 2.0 companies - the leaders at least - are proving that user experience can in fact be marketing in itself. Telecom companies could do the same, especially those bringing hosted services to the market, by leveraging the control that hosted provides (over CPE) to create user experiences that constantly improve.

Lastly - in reference to Brian's points on the state of the industry - I would add that while minute stealing is a diminishing return, it does allow some runway time for these companies to figure out how to change their revenue models from one predicated on transport to one predicated on application value. It can be done, and will make for some very profitable new telephony companies.

Good luck with the WWL, Brian.