This story appears in the
March 2001 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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Your phone number is already the key to your business voice
communications. Now an Australian company wants to make it the key
to your Web communications as well.
Nascomms introduced its
"numeric addressing system" late last year as an
enhancement to regular .com domains. It works like this: Users
download Nascomms' software, which operates in conjunction with
their browsers. Instead of typing in a URL, they can then enter a
company's phone number, which pulls up the associated Web site.
The software is free to download and use, but businesses must
subscribe to the service (at about $29 annually) to have their
phone numbers enabled.
Nascomms' general manager Siobhan Dooley explains the
appeal: "A phone number is a tool that businesses already use
effectively every day. It's on office stationery and your
business card. A customer simply inputs your phone number, and they
are on your site."
The system's success or failure relies heavily on adoption.
Will masses of Web surfers bother to install the software? Will
businesses find the concept compelling enough to subscribe? Phone
numbers aren't easier to remember than domains but could be a
handy reference point for local customers with access to the Yellow
Pages. Still, the ingrained use of domain names to get where
you're going remains a significant obstacle for this
system.
Eric S. Brown, a regular contributor to PCWorld.com,
is a freelance writer living in the Boston area.