The Hub

In February, Verizon introduced the Hub phone system, which connects to any broadband line to provide home phone service using the Internet. Designed to reinvent the home phone system, the Hub offers owners many features including the ability to sync with hand held calendars and contacts, pull up traffic and weather reports, locate family members via GPS, send text messages to multiple phones at once, send driving directions to a wireless phone and even log in to the phone remotely to use the functionality or update information from the office or another location. "Verizon Wireless is updating the tools busy families can use to manage their lives,” said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer at Verizon Wireless. Here's a quick look at the device and its features.



Launched as an important piece of technology for "busy families", a March 9th Ad Age Article, says that Verizon's initial market research indicated that the primary Hub purchaser would be a "lifestyle manager," and most often, that person would be female. With this information in hand, Verizon is now honing in on women - specifically mothers - as the key target audience for the device.

Verizon recently tapped the iVillage community to help identify key features of the device that would appeal to women. "Overall, Verizon learned from iVillage that it shouldn't play up the bells and whistles of the product but instead emphasize what it ultimately does: connect families."

I agree with this statement, as the bells and whistles of the device seem to be very similar to what a laptop offers. However, despite how useful The Hub can be in connecting families, I think it was launched a bit too late to become the next must-have technology for this audience. Moms are already accustomed to using various technologies such as PCs, cell phones, social networks and other online tools to manage their schedules and connect their families. Furthermore, an increasing number of Moms are on-the-go at all times and spend little time at home like Mothers of the past. Priced at $200 with a $35 monthly charge, I predict that it will be challenging for Verizon to persuade women that they need the Hub in addition to their existing technology.