Apple has been awarded a patent for a method whereby iPhone users can share music and photos with callers who have been placed on hold. Like most of Apple’s patented ideas, this one may not ever make it to an actual device. However, it raises an interesting question: what would you share with callers you placed on hold?
The fact that Apple is addressing “hold time”, even though most iPhone owners are using the phone for personal purposes rather than a business, shines a big spotlight on the general public’s attitude toward being placed on hold. Yet many businesses continue to leave callers in silence, or connected to a noisy radio station or sleepy “default” music tracks.
Theoretically, a future iPhone would allow you to let a caller on hold take a look at your photo collection, or hear a particular song. Would you treat the hold time like a visit to your Facebook page? A caller could check out your vacation photos or that shot of you at the Springsteen concert. You could even recommend your list of best live concert recordings of all time.
If you used your iPhone for business, you could show your latest innovation or a screen capture of your sweet customer interface design on your website. For a company with an image to protect and customers to satisfy, on hold time is indeed a golden opportunity.
For now, you can integrate a custom message and music on hold audio production that paints a picture in your caller’s mind. You have a story to tell and an image to maintain. The right message on hold production company will take your company’s personality into consideration and create a caller experience that goes far beyond the traditional phone-on-hold “thank you” messages.
Apple does not discuss the problems with image and music copyright protections, which could conceivably be a problem for businesses who share photos and music, but it appears that the idea behind the iPhone on-hold sharing concept is intended for personal use only. (Photo credit: Apple Insider; USPTO)
