Vodafone has taken over ZYB, a mobile social network, as a step towards the implementation of the 'Total Communications'-strategy. Users of ZYB can enter the data on their cell phone as contacts, appointments and messages and save it online. In that vision Vodafone isn't a (mobile) telephone company, but it's all about the contacts in the cell phone.

Future Vision by Erwin Van Lun on this article

Vodafone understands that the additional value in future will be much closer to human emotions. Not the dialing of a number, not the connection of two machines, but it’s the contact between two people that matters. Each screen will soon be connected to the virtual world, so each screen will also be a telephone. And contacts who are available on the first screen will, per definition, also be available on the second, no matter where you are in the world. That’s saying something.

If screens are per definition always connected with one another, the companies who provide this are offering a commodity product. People aren’t interested in this at all anymore. In part because the costs will be incredibly low. Worldwide there’ll only be a few players who connect screens with one another. Just like there’s only a limited amount of oil companies.

What people will be willing to pay for is the assistance in maintaining one’s contacts. ‘Call Anne’ is the basic function. ‘Tell Anne I’ll be a bit later’ is a next step, but what’s really important is the answer to the question ‘Why wouldn’t you call Anne back?’ Then you’ve got to immerse yourself in the lives of humans. Only then can you call yourself a social coaching brand.

• in Dutch