[November 19, 2003] CallTones, the new sound of making a phone call CallTones, the new sound of making a phone call. The telephone was invented in 1876. Automatic dialing came in 80 years ago, and since then there has been one thing that has remained constant in all phone calls. You dial the number you want to connect to and then you get that familiar ring ring sound in the earpiece until the call is answered. That “Ring Ring” sound is known as the ringback tone. We take it for granted as part of every phone call we make. Well that is all about to change! A new type of service, CallTones, is sweeping the world. It allows users to choose what people hear as ringback when they call them. This will change the sound of telephony forever. People are very familiar with ring tones on mobile phones. The ring tones allow the phone user to personalize their phone for people around them when the phone rings. It can make a statement that “I am hip”, or “I love Star Trek”, or any other statement they would like to make. The point is the statement is made to the people around them when a call comes into their mobile phone. The person that is calling them hears “Ring Ring” and no identity information is given back to them. CallTones change the way a call sounds to person calling the subscriber — exactly the people subscribers most want to impress. CallTones also allows a richer choice of audio clips than ring tones. Because the ringback audio is stored in and delivered over the network, it includes original recordings, not just simple tone sequences. And every caller hears the selection in full fidelity, no matter what phone they call from. The appeal to subscribers is very simple — it appeals to their egos, letting them make a statement about their personal identity by the choice of music or other audio that people hear when they call the subscriber. As a matter of personal identity, the appeal is similar to that of downloadable ring tones. CallTones leverage the market development that has already occurred with downloadable ring tones. So how would a typical service work? Let’s look at a youth with interests in the Simpsons, and the latest hits on the Top 10 Chart... They could subscribe to the service and configure it as follows. When anyone calls them they will hear a selection from the Top 10 Chart chosen at random. The subscriber can then have some additional rules set up in their profile. Monday to Friday between 18:00 and 18:30 they can have a snippet of the Simpsons theme song with a blurb indicating they are watching the Simpsons and will not answer that call. The number of their older brother in University is programmed in to always hear a dog barking. And for their girlfriend their special song is played out for that extra romantic effect. All of this can be set up over a web or WAP interface, through an IVR or via SMS. Now let’s look at an event like one of the many popular television shows where a new song comes out. It could be a talent quest where one of the participants releases a new single. People might be sitting waiting for the bus to come. There is a billboard across the street announcing the new single and an SMS code to select it as CallTones. The person just enters the SMS short code and instantly they have the new song as the CallTone. This could even be the same day the song is released. But there is far more to this technology as it opens a whole new way of interacting with businesses. They can now use this technology for corporate branding and promotional activities, and yes they have a captive audience as the caller is waiting to have their call answered. The key point to remember is the call has NOT been answered. There are no phone charges occurring while the information is playing out. CallTones can operate in a number of different ways for corporations. It could be your favourite cola company using their well recognised jingle to reinforce the corporate image to all its callers. Your local pizza shop may keep track of you as a frequent customer and offer a half price meal on you next call to them These are simple examples of corporate use. Much more elaborate uses of the technology can be made by using information about the person that is calling. When you are calling your favourite airline, your profile can be retrieved and a customized message can be played out as the CallTone. For example “Thanks for calling Ms Jones. As you have made 10 flights to Melbourne in the last 2 months, we would like to offer you a free flight”. Having a message with all this valuable information for the caller will not be of any use to them if the phone is answered in the first second. They would miss out on the great promotional offer. To cater for this, ring indication can be delayed through the network. The caller dials the airline. The system looks up their details and plays out the promotional information. After a predetermined delay for the promotion, say in this instance 2 seconds, ring indication is sent to the airline, and the phone starts to ring at the reservation desk. This is a fundamental change in the way that calls are made. Some people might think the service is a good idea, but would be reticent to subscribe as they feel it might confuse callers. The experience in countries where the service has been deployed has been exactly that. Confusion on the first phone call, and sometimes the second, but not on the third. Users all seem to go through the same process when the technology is introduced. The first time they call a number with CallTones they typically hang up and call back. The second time they hear the CallTone they may just wonder, and the third time they wait to connect. This leads to a viral dissemination of information about the service as everybody starts to talk about it. They want to know what it is, where do you get it, how much does it cost and so on. In a very short period of time people just take for granted that “Ring Ring” has been replaced forever. The technology used to play the CallTones into the phone network can also overlay a traditional “Ring Ring” ring back signal with the selected tune. Some users may want to have this option to make it clear to people calling them that the line is indeed ringing. CallTones are independent of the network technology. It will work on landlines, GSM, CDMA and 3G wireless networks. It will even work on VoIP solutions. So where will users get the service from? In the first instance it will be from their phone company. The service requires some technology to be installed at the phone company to make the service work. This is a big difference from ring tones which operate on the mobile phone itself. As the service develops though there will be opportunities to get CallTones from other parties that form associations with the phone operators. It might be television networks to promote popular shows. It could be airlines as part of a rewards incentive program. Or even the grocery store with an offering on the back of the shopping docket. The cooperation opportunities are endless. What is the history of CallTones? The first commercial service started in Korea in March 2002 at SKT. SKT developed a solution in conjunction with a number of partners for integration into their network environment. By the end of 2002 they had 5 million subscribers to the service out of their total subscriber base of 15 million customers. As with any successful service, it will be on a network near you soon. Marc Samson Hagemeyer Communications [email protected] +61 2 9741 0190 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]