Saturday, June 10, 2006

Things They Should Invent: Call Priority Display for cellphones

The problem with a cellphone is that the call recipient could be anywhere, and the caller has no idea where the recipient is or what they're doing (as opposed to landlines, where the caller knows that the recipient is at home or in the office).

The recipient can screen the calls by looking at the Call Display, but they still don't know how important the call is. Is the caller having an emergency, or are they just calling for information? Can it not wait, or can it wait an hour? And, for people who don't have a landline, is the caller calling just to chat, or for a specific purpose? The recipient may feel obligated to answer because the caller is their partner or child - someone who would be calling the recipient if they were having an emergency - but the caller may be calling about something that can wait an hour.

Therefore, I propose that, before the call connects, the caller should be instructed to press a number corresponding with the priority of their call. Priority 1 is "Requires immediate attention" - i.e. emergencies, or the need to change your plans to meet up in half an hour. Priority 2 is "Purposeful but not immediately urgent" - i.e. the caller wants information that's too urgent for email, but the recipient doesn't need to drop everything/pull over to the side of the road/interrupt their romantic dinner etc. The recipient can let the call go to voicemail and return it when they're unoccupied. Priority 3 is "Just calling to chat," and the recipient can just refuse the call if they're not up for chatting at the moment.

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