My talk from Ecomm 2008 about the future of voice applications.

1. Paprika :
Voice is a Spice
Thomas S. McCarthy-Howe
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2. World Wide Paprika Incorporated
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3. Hard Times in the Paprika Game
2 Billion Dollar US Market for Spices and Seasoning, but it’s not
growing
Falling paprika prices (ARPU), hard to differentiate between
offerings, hard to brand
Big iron cycle is taking full effect...
No barriers to entry, increased competition
We have to find a way to compete, some way to move our
product forward.... we must innovate... enhance our offering...
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5. Voice is Simply a Commodity
Oil, corn, paprika, soybeans, oats, ethanol, wheat, rice, steel
Commodities increase their value from being generic
Chicago Board of Trade Grade A Corn
Our attempts to enhance voice diminish that value
People simply don’t want different voice experiences
Surprise is bad with commodities.
Is there anything that works? Are we doomed?
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8. How do we grow our market?
We have a role model... corn
Corn is currently $4.00 a bushel, about the same price as 1910
Yet corn production in the last 100 years is through the roof
And far outpaces population growth
Nobody enhances the end product, or even tries
Nearly all improvements are on yield, disease resistance
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9. We don’t rule corn. It rules us.
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10. We don’t rule corn. It rules us.
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11. We don’t rule corn. It rules us.
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12. We don’t rule corn. It rules us.
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13. We don’t rule corn. It rules us.
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14. What should we do?
Accept our role as a commodity
Make it a mission to make voice easy to integrate
Resist innovation of our end product
Encourage innovation in the production of our end product
90% of us need to find ways of using voice, not creating it
We need less farmers, we need more cooks
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15. How would you use voice?
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16. Any way you want.
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17. Any way you want.
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18. Any way you want.
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19. Any way you want.
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20. Any way you want.
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