Voice as the “Killer App”

The Churchill Club’s 8th annual “Top Ten Tech Trends Debate,” which took place in Palo Alto last week, was the scene for an interesting discussion about the future of voice technologies.

Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson, forecast that voice calls will become free within data networks and that voice becomes the killer app for metropolitan wireless data networks.

“Voice runs as a free incremental service over data networks,” said Jurvetson. “It’s just like the transition to e-mail, you don’t meter it. Communication is the fundamental lubricant of the economy.”

With the proliferation of wireless data networks, and the increased takeup of voice as the communications mode of choice, look for voice applications to play an increasingly important role in how commerce is conducted.

Read more in depth coverage of the event here.