The bold French plan for giving away electronic phone books
When French Dance Student Isabelle Michalowski, 17, wants to find a local nightspot that is still open during the summer vacation, she lets her fingers do the walking—not through the Yellow Pages, but across the keyboard of a computer console. Using the small video terminal that has been provided by the state-owned French telephone company, she punches a few keys and then taps out the words DISCOS—RENNES. Seconds later the names, addresses and telephone numbers flash on the screen. She then hits another button and an illustrated advertisement appears on the screen. It reads: "Pym's American Bar, dancing nightly, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., all year round." Voilà!
Isabelle is part of one of the most adventurous computer experiments yet conducted. The French phone company has ordered 300,000 more consoles just like hers, the largest single contract for computer terminals ever signed. This month it will begin giving them away around the northwestern city of Rennes at the rate of 10,000 a month. For those who request one, the computer terminal will be a standard feature of their telephone service, replacing the local phone book. Instead of looking up a number in the directory, customers will simply turn on a machine and search for the number electronically.
While her mother Michelle still complains that "the box" is "not at all aesthetic" and rarely uses it, Isabelle has quickly taken to the new technology. She consults the electronic phone book at least three times a week, calling up lists of music halls, dance studios and movie theaters. "Whenever I need a phone book now, I always use the électronique, "says Isabelle. "It's much quicker and a lot more fun."
The electronic phone book offers the user far more services than a paper one. To find a mechanic to fix the family car, he just types in the make of his auto and his address. The machine will then provide the name and location of the nearest garage servicing that model. To speak to a friend in America, the customer presses another button and the screen shows a map of the world marked with the costs and dialing procedures for the different countries. The telephone computer can find a name even if it is not being spelled correctly. Given the phonetic spelling of a name, the computer provides the phone numbers and addresses of all the names that sound the same. For example, if the caller is looking for Jacques Legalle, but types "Jacques Le Gal" into the computer, the machine will still come up with the right name.
The French phone company maintains that the computer is also more economical in the long run. By mass-producing the tiny terminals, it has brought the cost of each machine down to $320, still considerably more than the cost of a book, but getting closer. Moreover, the electronic phone book does not have to be replaced each year. It is also more accurate than the paper edition because the computer can be automatically and instantaneously updated. By the time 25 million phone books have been printed and distributed, about one-third of the information is no longer accurate.