Data is where it’s at.  This the Information Age, for gosh sake.  So why are we still messing around with old tech?ADHERER

I just read Andy Kessler’s article Why AT&T Killed Google Voice and something he said really stuck in my mind; something that I’ve been wondering about for some time now.

Basically, he says that most of the tech services we consume nowadays – phone, data, email, SMS, MMS, pictures, video, etc. – is all just data.  So why, Andy asks, are we still beholden to cellphone companies as though the minutes and the messages were the important part?

And my mind started to go to places, places that the giant minds of this nation, certainly of this world, should be headed.  Why not just make it all data and be done with it?

There have been small devices that just glom data before.  Archos and Nokia have each made such gadgets.  But think of it.  If we no longer had to lock our portable devices (cellphones, for the most part) to a phone network, and if we could get data ubiquitously, then we would see a lot of sudden growth in this industry.

Small handsets could use services like Skype for voice communication.  Text messaging (why is it friggin’ $20 for “unlimited” SMSes?  Kessler estimates that ar around $5,000 per megabyte!) would give way to instant messaging and email.  And the list goes on.

The truly neat thing about all this is that the data infrastructure would surely grow.  Instead of figuring out how to put more towers in more places to get cell coverage for many providers, we’d be looking into ways to get more coverage in more places, and also how to hand off connections from one base station to another seamlessly.  Office buildings, Starbucks, McDonald’s, private residences, would all become hotspots.  When we’re home, our handsets would effortlessly and seamlessly use our own wi-fi internet connections to do any- and everything we use our cells for now.

What’s more, innovative technologies such as Google Voice would not be stifled on any platform, and would indeed start springing up all over.  Competition is good for consumers as it controls costs and stimulates innovation.

Here’s another example of how old tech is new, but yet still old.  I am sitting in my cubicle in my office.  In front of me is an internet-connected PC (mostly connected… plenty of things are blocked by the proxy).  Next to my PC is a telephone.  But note, this phone uses telephony, or VoIP (Voice Over IP).  Wouldn’t it be far easier and cheaper to give me a USB headset (or just a headset with a mike) and some VoIP software?  Think of the limitless potential.  The software could be upgraded with new features, such as visual voicemail.  It could also be connected directly with online contacts lists.  Got a busy signal?  The software could allow you to, with but a single click, to email that same person.  Voicemail forwarding would be a simple point-and-click affair.

But, as it is, the phone is crippled by its limited hardware, and can only do so much.  In the end, it seems like such a waste.

So how about it?  What else is mired in the “because that’s the way it’s always been” backward thinking?  Weigh in in the comments below.  I’m anxious to hear what you have to say.