Of all of the products he has created, the iPhone is my favorite. The industry firsts pioneered by the iPhone are almost too many to enumerate. First phone to have an integrated music player that really works. First phone to have visual voicemail. First phone to radically simplify activation. First phone to have a usable mobile browsing experience. First phone to define an intuitive touch-based interface.

The impacts of this device in the marketplace are being felt in many ways. Competitors are coming out with devices that offer a similar look and feel: big screens, touch-screen capabilities and better music players. It’s having an impact on the relationship between carriers and device manufacturers. I also believe it is having an impact on the future of SIP.

I’m not talking about a SIP client that ships with the next iPhone firmware upgrade (though nothing would make me happier, I assure you). I’m talking about something much more far-reaching than that. What I’m talking about is the impact the iPhone is having on the user experience. The iPhone is, first and foremost, about a great user experience.

Unfortunately, great user experience hasn’t been at the top of the list of things that VoIP systems have been delivering. Most products and solutions have been focused on replicating the PSTN experience and feature set, not redefining it or improving it. SIP technology, however, was designed from the beginning around a better communications experience. Multimedia, smart endpoints and integration with the web and email – all of which are about an improved user experience – have been part of SIP from the beginning.

For example, SIP can provide rich caller identification. Instead of just carrying the name and number of the caller, it can carry pictures, videos, ringtones, and any other kind of information that can identify a participant. It can even include a vCard in a call-setup message. Cell phones today provide some of this but depend on the user to enter pictures and other rich information for each caller. Imagine a world where, without any work on your behalf, you get to see the picture, name, organization and contact information for your callers, no matter where they are calling from, or whether you’ve ever spoken to them before. This is just one example of the enhanced user experience that SIP can bring to the table.

As another example, SIP supports cross-service call transfers and redirections. Imagine trying to reach someone who you discover is not available by phone. Instead of just leaving a voicemail, your client can automatically pop up your email program with the recipient and subject filled in, so you can send an e-mail instead.

Unfortunately, these features, though present in the protocol since its initial publication almost ten years ago, have not shown up in products. These features do not work through the PSTN. The market wasn’t demanding them, and vendors weren’t implementing them.

Now, however, it’s all about user experience. The success of the iPhone in the market and its loyal following have shown Apple and everyone else that a great user experience is the most important thing for a successful communications product. I think this will raise consumers’ expectations around the other products they use for communications – the IP phone on their work desks, and the soft client on their PCs. These products will finally be able to move beyond the PSTN and its basic feature set and leverage the features that SIP has been able to provide all along but that have lain dormant, waiting to be awakened by a hungry marketplace looking to consume them.

And for this, I thank you, Mr. Jobs. Besides creating some of the best consumer products on the market today, you’re helping fuel the demand that will allow SIP to realize its full potential.

Jonathan Rosenberg is the co-author of SIP and SIMPLE. He is currently a Cisco Fellow and architect for the IP Communications Business Unit in the Voice Technology Group at Cisco (www.cisco.com).

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