Nextel Launches Push To Email
Nextel, looking to continue their push-to-talk lead has now introduced NextMail, which is more accurately being described as push-to-email. It basically uses the DirectConnect system to record a voice message that is then sent via email. There have been a lot of voice email companies that have come and gone over the last few years that quickly discover voice email really isn't all that appealing to most people (certainly not enough to pay for it). However, by throwing it into DirectConnect, it might actually make sense. The interface for the phone is still mainly for voice (despite what all of those people with power thumbs might say), and making it easy to send asynchronous communications to people via a phone is useful - especially when typing out a text message may be burdensome. Of course, the devil's advocate response is that phones already have voice messaging capabilities, more commonly known as voice mail. There are some situations where this NextMail feature may be more appropriate (trying to send the same message to a few people or you have no desire to talk to anyone in person), but it's unlikely to be a huge winner. Still, there's nothing wrong with having more options.
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