The premise behind voice portals so far seems to be that they present a practical way to request and acquire fact-based information. In other words, imagine 411 on steroids or an Ask Jeeves you talk to . It doesn t require too great a leap of faith to imagine the usefulness of this, especially in our increasingly information driven society. Another element of this discussion, which could easily merit a separate article, is pricing. People can want what a product or service offers, but not enough to pay the asking price.
Iridium comes to mind.
You call a toll-free number and then listen to a short commercial while the computer retrieves your information. Most would agree the Internet does a good job of providing quick access to fact-based information, among other things. On the other hand, people do not always have access to the Internet, at least not yet. Plus, a lot of people don t have access to the Internet at all.