Farewell to the fat phone book

Lying in my driveway yesterday was an inch-thick "Talking Phone Book." It wasn't talking when I went out and picked it up. I dropped it on the table before addressing the question of whether we needed yet another telephone book in the house. We already have two.

How times have changed since the break-up of Ma Bell, which required monopoly telephone companies to not only allow competitors to use telephone lines and to sell telephones but also to release their list of customer names and phone numbers that constitute a telephone directory. Competitors, including the Talking Phone Book folks, have jumped into the market, and it's been a cash cow, just as it was for the Bell companies. The money comes from the yellow pages, which consist of paid advertising, which can be billed as part of your monthly telephone bill or by other means. For decades, the yellow pages, with their categorical listing of business numbers, have been an essential aid to consumers. Need a mechanic? Look under "auto repair." Got a toothache? Look under "dentists." It's no wonder so many competitors have jumped into the market and no wonder so many businesses spend tons of money on yellow pages ads. The massive tome in my driveway contained about a dozen full-page ads for attorneys (business must be good), and my heating/air conditioning contractor had a full-page ad, too. Even churches had ads.

But I think the halcyon days of yellow page ads and cash-cow phone directories may be coming to an end. Just as with news, phone directories are migrating to the Web. Do a Google search for phone numbers, and you'll get 71 million hits. Dozens of sites provide directories of residential and business numbers. Mapping and tourism sites also provide phone numbers. Many high-end cell phones now have links to phone directories and can search for nearby businesses by category. No need to lug around a big, fat phone directory, and no need to stack two or three phone directories in your kitchen drawer.

There's another factor: Consumers are shifting away from traditional land-line phones, whose numbers go into the phone directories. About 18 percent of U.S. households have no switched from land lines to cell phones-only. Other households are getting phone service via their computer or cable provider, making the traditional phone directory less comprehensive and less worthwhile. A phone directory isn't much good if a fifth or more of your neighbors aren't included.

Just as with advertising on news Web sites, I suspect that Web directory ads will not be nearly as profitable as print advertising. Directory publishers, ranging from the local phone company to newspaper publishers to directory specialists, will see their revenues plummet over time, and many will be forced out of the business. The companies running Web-based directories will benefit, but the billions being spent on yellow pages ads will not shift in their entirety to the Web. Lower costs for Web ads might free up some company revenues for other expenses, or for other forms of advertising.

It likely will be a slow and gradual process, but the fat phone book plunked down in your driveway or hung on your doorknob is almost certainly a dying breed.