Date Posted:
01/28/2011
Title:
Interview with William Cobb, VP of Marketing
Summary:
Discussion comparing the Z4 for PC and Mac to the Sorenson ntouch product
Body:
The Sorenson ntouch is coming out 9 months after the Z4 for the PC. Is the Sorenson ntouch a clone of the Z4 product?
No, because the Sorenson ntouch product lacks several important features. Sorenson finally stepped up an developed a soft video phone product for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing market. While the Sorenson ntouch product is an adequate product, it has several product deficiencies. The inability to call video phones other than a VP-200 is a major miss and may be a violation of FCC rules. However, this was not unexpected, because Sorenson’s repeated behavior, over the last 6 years, of limiting choice for the Deaf and Hard of Haring market. The Sorenson ntouch has no video mail capability for point-to-point calls which is considered a major product deficiency. The Sorenson ntouch also lacks a text overlay capability, which slows the call down and can require the Deaf user to repeat numbers.
Why is the Z4 for PC better the the Sorenson ntouch?
The Z4 product is a proven video phone that has been available for over 9 months. The Z4 works on both PC and Mac platforms and has taken market share from Sorenson. ZVRS believes this was the reason behind development by Sorenson of the ntouch product. The Z4 does several things the Sorenson ntouch lacks. First, you can leave video mail on point-to-point calls or any video call for that matter. Second, Z4 will alert you to when you have an inbound call by sending a text to your phone or pager. The Sorenson ntouch also lacks the ability to have text overlay function. Third, the Sorenson ntouch does not appear to support DTMF dialing so the deaf user can’t input credit card numbers and other confidential information themselves but rather depend on the interpreter. The Sorenson ntouch also does not have a Mac or mobile version of the product thereby limiting the choice for the Deaf user.
Is Sorenson ntouch is part of a new product line?
Sorenson has been harvesting revenues generated by VP-200 product and was very content forcing a single solution on to the Deaf and Hard of hearing market. We believe the Sorenson ntouch may be developing other products however, we have yet to see any real evidence they exist. Sorenson nTouch was a response to the Z4 and the impact it is having on the Sorenson base. Sorenson developed the Sorenson ntouch to slow the significant market penetration by ZVRS products. The Sorenson ntouch needs several features like video mail on point-to-point calls, alerting on in-bound calls and support for touch tone dialing to make the Sorenson ntouch a viable product for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing market.