Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Launches Push To Email

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 23:19:46 -0400

Jun 21 2004

Nextel Launches Push To Email

Contributed by Mike Masnick on Monday, June 21 2004 @ 7:13pm

Nextel, looking to continue their push-to-talk lead has now introduced
NextMail, which is more accurately being
described as push-to-email. It basically uses the DirectConnect system
to record a voice message that is then sent via
email. There have been a lot of voice email companies that have come and
gone over the last few years that quickly
discover voice email really isn't all that appealing to most people
(certainly not enough to pay for it). However, by throwing it into
DirectConnect, it might actually make sense. The interface for the phone
is still mainly for voice (despite what all of those people with power
thumbs might say), and making it easy to send asynchronous
communications to people via a
phone is useful - especially when typing out a text message may be
burdensome. Of course, the devil's advocate response
is that phones already have voice messaging capabilities, more commonly
known as voice mail. There are some situations
where this NextMail feature may be more appropriate (trying to send the
same message to a few people or you have no
desire to talk to anyone in person), but it's unlikely to be a huge
winner. Still, there's nothing wrong with having more
options.

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