Is it still time for time and temperature services on the telephone?  It's easy to suggest that time and temp may no longer be needed – after all, we have the Internet and smartphones.  Information, including weather information, is easy to obtain these days.

However – there are still millions of calls made to time and temperature telephone numbers every day, and there is still a need for strictly audio information on the phone.  Smartphones are great, and they can display all kinds of information on those little screens.  But not if you're driving!  That may be one reason we see evidence of numerous calls made to time and temp services from cellphone users.

It's also easy to forget those who may not be quite as "connected" as others.  Recent studies show that about 1\3rd of Americans don't have Internet access at home, and as many as 21% of Americans are not on the Internet at all, and have no wish to be.  With a population exceeding 300 million, that means many millions of people don't have the instant access to information many others have.   A potential market of 100 million is still an attractive market to any business.

In addition, history has shown us that Americans don't abandon one form of media when another one comes along.  When radio arrived in the 1920's, the predictions were that radio would be the "death" of newspapers (it wasn't).  When TV was invented, it would be the "death" of radio (it wasn't).  And when the Internet arrived, it would mean the end of newspapers, radio and television.  True enough, the Internet has forced changes on all those industries, but if they play their cards right, they'll be here many years from now.  

In other words, when a new form of communicating arrives, we  just add it to our "media mix" – we don't abandon what we have used to that point.  The same can be said of time & temperature on the telephone – it remains a valuable and appreciated public service for millions of people every day.  

In the future, we'll give you some examples!