Read the interview with Ron Pompei in Note to Telecoms: Rebrand or Die

[...] But honestly, the service providers, the handset makers, content creators -- everyone is trying to converge on the same concept: How can we create a seamless environment in which consumers can move from one device to the next, accessing any content that they want, anytime and anywhere.

[...] Women go into dressing rooms today, they change their outfit, they take a picture and e-mail it to their girlfriends and call them. If women are doing that, why doesn't every store set up Internet access in the dressing rooms to allow women to communicate more easily? And it can be branded -- a portal that you can step through to experience the brand in a way that expands the consumer's life.

This merger or convergence will involve people's ability to affect their experience and their environment. Telecom companies have to see themselves as providing a creative platform that allows for self-actualization.

[...] Telecom companies think they're in the business of technology when they're really in the business of connecting people.

About Ron Pompei:

In particular he has pioneered the idea of the "transformative environment" - a shop or work space that impacts on the user not simply on a physical level, but emotionally, intellectually and spiritually as well.

It is a philosophy that has been dubbed 'C3' - the integration of Commerce, Culture and Community - and one that Pompei believes has the power not simply to revitalize urban venues, but to transform the way people socialize and interact.

Why do I blog this?
Simple - we are on the same page as Ron Pompei. Slowly, more and more people understand that.