#PhoneDisc & Prophone
8 messages in this thread
We've recently heard a lot about discussions regarding differences,
dislikes, pros & cons etc, of PhoneDisc and Prophone in the CDROM forum.
As VP of Sales for DDA PhoneDisc, I would like to try to clarify any
misconceptions between the two products. This is the first time that
anyone from our company has participated in this forum.
The PhoneDisc name has been in the marketplace for almost 6 years;
PhoneDisc USA, a national telephone directory, has been in the marketplace
for 2 1/2 years. Its first sales were to specific vertical and commercial
markets, and its price, like many products introduced for the first time,
was much higher than is being advertised today.
Our Fall '92 PhoneDisc USA currently contains a total of 82 million
listings – 72 million residential and 9.5 million business. This dwarfs
the number of listings in our competition's product, which is about 38
million residential and 7 million business listings.
More important than the absolute number of listings, however, are the "hit
rates" obtained when used to locate individuals and businesses. PhoneDisc
residential hit rates are currently 65 – 75%, compared to our competitions
residential hit rate, which is, to the best of our knowledge, 20 – 30%.
PhoneDisc business listings are 95% accurate, and we believe it is the best
telephone directory of business listings in the United States today.
But we are not satisfied with these figures. Our winter '92 release,
expected out before the end of the year, will contain an enormously updated
residential file that will increase our residential hit rates to over 95%
when compared with actual, current telephone white page directories. Our
business listings will be at least 10 million. We are very excited about
this next release.
[continued in the reply]
[continued]
We now look at the second half of the "quality equation", which is the
search software; it is a critical part of what makes any information
product outstanding, and what clearly differentiates PhoneDisc from all
other competitors. PhoneDisc software is the fastest and easiest-to-use
directory search software available. It is not a program that can be
inexpensively licensed from another company, but is developed and
maintained exclusively by Digital Directory Assistance.
PhoneDisc has won numerous awards in the CDROM industry, such as the
Information Industry Association's "Best Transportable Media" award, and
the Optical Publishing Association's "Outstanding Achievement in Business"
award, given to us at last year's Microsoft CDROM convention. We have seen
no such awards given to other directory search software.
In business competition, we understand that companies often try to lay
claim to having the "fastest and easiest software, best product, etc". We
invite all interested users to try both products to see for themselves.
We welcome any feedback in this forum, and hope to be a regular participant
in the future.
Lou Navarro
DDA PhoneDisc
Lou- Can you pass along the names of a couple of reasonably priced mail
order outfits that offer PhoneDisc? Also, what's the approximate street
price (non bundled)?
Thanx, Jerry
At this moment, it's available only from DAK catalogues at about $149, when
purchased without a drive. However, we are getting ready to make a large
penetration into the distribution channel.
DAK: 800-325-0800 Orders
Lou,
I just received my PhoneDisc from DAK two days ago. It is the SPRING 1992
edition. If you are ready to come out with the WINTER 1992 edition,
shouldn't I have at least received the FALL 1992 edition?
Thanks.
-Robert
Lou-
Thanx for the info. Another message in this thread implies that DAK is
possibly sending out an old version of the disk. Could you tell me what
the latest version of PhoneDisc is, and when would be expecting to do an
update? At that time, I'll probably want to step up and buy it (from
someone who will have that version, of course). Any info you have on who
will carry it would be really appreciated.
Thanks, Jerry
Lou, is DAC or PhoneDisc at COMDEX? Will it be possible to talk with
someone about it there? Cheers!
Jim, it's DAK, not DAC, and I doubt they'd be at Comdex. They are a
mail-order company.
Claude Schoch (the president of PhoneDisc) will be running around for a
couple of days visiting with dealers, distributors, etc. I don't think he
would be available, however.
What is your interest??