The next generation of phones

Every day, the average person (you know, the one with the 2.5 kids) interacts with 24 different people, utilizes eight different modes of communication, retrieves 190 different messages, three quarters of which are electronic. Each hour, he is interrupted 20 times. At least, this is what John Zeglis, the President of AT&T, claims. He proffered these and other statistics as part of a speech to Yale students in Linsly-Chittenden Hall on Tuesday, October 27, the fourth event of the Yale College Student Union's inaugural year.

In his talk, Zeglis began by characterizing the information overload and attempts to filter it and preserve privacy. Riddling the speech with jokes about his daughter's escapades as she sat red-faced in the audience, Zeglis tended to emphasize the fact that us "kids" had grown up with mass communication and thus had better ideas for dealing with it.

A key theme in his speech was the Internet. "You all know where the action is," Zeglis said. "It's on the Internet." He pointed out that while radio took 30 years to reach 50 million people, and while it took television 13 years to accomplish the same feat, the Internet has reached 100 million people in 6.5 years and continues to grow at an astounding pace. To him, the neat thing about the Internet is the convenience of communicating via email, an "asynchronous communication" method, which means that emailers can communicate with no restrictions on time.

Zeglis asserts, however, the Internet's major pitfalls lie with information overload and a lack of speed. "It is not a problem to have access to all the world's learning," Zeglis said. "The problem is managing the access." As he explained toward the beginning of his speech, "All of the information, all of the communication, is threatening to short-circuit our minds."

Zeglis believes that the information overload will be alleviated once all information can come through one common channel. Zeglis suggests that this one venue will be the coaxial wiring that currently carries cable television, and, in some areas, Internet access. AT&T has purchased such a service in its buyout of the cable company Telecom. It will be supplemented by wireless technology, which he says is growing at a phenomenal rate. Referring to a small phone in his hand, he mockingly asserted, "Next year it'll be the size of a cigarette lighter and fat fingers won't even be able to dial it."

Zeglis did not end the speech without acknowledging the problems his own company has with making a profit on providing the basic connection to the new, broader-bandwidth Internet, however. With such a slim profit margin, AT&T focuses on trying to make a profit through premium services which entice customers to remain with them, including the filtering services he referred to earlier. He also envisions the creation of new transactions along the lines of tickets.com, where companies and airline fliers can bid on remaining tickets until their prices match. "We're gonna have transactions made that wouldn't happen otherwise," he said.

Zeglis expanded on the premises of his YSCU talk at a Master's Tea in Saybrook, held before the debate. He used the tea as an opportunity to ask students what they thought of AT&T's services and how the company can better serve the college population. As an incentive, Zeglis offered free pre-paid phone cards to students who offered "the best questions or suggestions."

Apparently, as AT&T shapes its plans for the future of communications, any and all suggestions are welcome.

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