Justyn Miller of Kalona Telephone provided a show and tell of new services and technologies in his excellent presentation at the Iowa Telephone Association’s Video Conference. Miller of Kalona Telephone encouraged independent telcos to, “Become the local authority on technology.” He encouraged telcos to embrace new technology by introducing it to and educating their customers on its use. He explained that if telcos do not fill this role, customers will learn about new technology and associated services from big box retailer competitors.
He told of how his company is using TiVo to bind customers to its service offering. He said that less than 2% of people who have TiVo disconnect. He called TiVo, “a sticky and life changing product.” He extolled the many features of TiVo and gave an example of how he taught his local banker to use the “TiVo To Go” feature, so the banker’s daughter could watch TV while at her brother’s sporting event (I guess she found TV to be more interesting than her sibling’s sporting activities).
Place-shifting, via the Sling Media solutions, is another service Kalona Telephone offers its customers. Justyn was a beta tester of the Sling Media mobile. He explained, as well as demonstrated, that the Sony PSP has the best screen for a portable playback device. Another display device he showed was the MyVu virtual screen, which turns an iPOD into a 30-inch virtual screen (he also explained that one has to be careful with this device, as a flight attendant thought Justyn’s MyVu were X-Ray glasses).
Miller’s most impressive demonstration was how he displayed his presentation. Instead of PowerPoint and a PC, he used an AppleTV set-top to serve his slides and videos directly to a projector. It worked flawlessly and was a perfect way to demonstrate the importance of staying ahead of the technology curve.
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