Switched On: Giving fax the axe
By Ross Rubin 
posted March 23rd 2010 11:00PM
posted March 23rd 2010 11:00PM
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
One reason faxes endure is because of the mainstream failure of digital signatures; we still rely on squiggly lines to bind our commitments. It's long been possible to use something like a Wacom tablet to capture one's signature, or even to use a scanner to capture it, but overlaying the image onto a form can be cumbersome, as well as impractical when you are away from your PC. For those on-the-go scenarios, there are fax apps available for smartphones, but they often are little more than a gateway to subscription-based electronic fax services (although one for the iPhone, Fax Print Share, lets you buy credits for faxing documents of various lengths to various countries). Services such as eFax are a poor fit for the person who just need to send an occasional facsimile -- or more likely send back a fax, oftentimes one that requires a signature.
Here comes Zosh to the rescue. After signing up for an account, you can forward e-mails that include a PDF to your Zosh account. From there, the Zosh app lets you fill in the forms by using the iPhone keyboard to enter small bits of information. It also includes a novel signature entry mode that lets you create your John Hancock by using your finger as the field scrolls sideways. With practice, this enabled me to create an approximation of my signature -- although I suspect it would work better with a stylus capable of working on capacitive screens. Zosh lets you resize typed information or signatures so that they fit the original underlining of the form. Once the form is complete, you can e-mail it back out to the sending party, providing the sender with your ecologically conscientious acquiescence.
Today, you can add fields and signatures to a PDF -- but given that Microsoft Word is probably the only other format commonly used for forms, it would be great if Zosh could convert those during the e-mail process. Additionally, while it is great to be able to e-mail the completed form back, it would also be useful to have the option to fax it on-the-go as with Fax Print Share, for those occasions where you may not have the recipient's e-mail address. Zosh is the kind of innovative app that uses modern handset capabilities to address a real mobile need, but there's room for improvement. However, if you're the sort that's going to print the form anyway, you may as well just fill it out on paper.
Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
One reason faxes endure is because of the mainstream failure of digital signatures; we still rely on squiggly lines to bind our commitments. It's long been possible to use something like a Wacom tablet to capture one's signature, or even to use a scanner to capture it, but overlaying the image onto a form can be cumbersome, as well as impractical when you are away from your PC. For those on-the-go scenarios, there are fax apps available for smartphones, but they often are little more than a gateway to subscription-based electronic fax services (although one for the iPhone, Fax Print Share, lets you buy credits for faxing documents of various lengths to various countries). Services such as eFax are a poor fit for the person who just need to send an occasional facsimile -- or more likely send back a fax, oftentimes one that requires a signature.
It's the kind of innovative app that uses modern handset capabilities to address a real mobile need, but there is room for improvement. |
Today, you can add fields and signatures to a PDF -- but given that Microsoft Word is probably the only other format commonly used for forms, it would be great if Zosh could convert those during the e-mail process. Additionally, while it is great to be able to e-mail the completed form back, it would also be useful to have the option to fax it on-the-go as with Fax Print Share, for those occasions where you may not have the recipient's e-mail address. Zosh is the kind of innovative app that uses modern handset capabilities to address a real mobile need, but there's room for improvement. However, if you're the sort that's going to print the form anyway, you may as well just fill it out on paper.
Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
I seriously doubt this app will dinosaur fax machines all by itself. Perhaps we give this phone too much credit?
@Andrews Username
You're kidding, right? The problem with faxes isn't how cumbersome they are; like you said, they're the easiest things in the world to use. That's why all the grandmas and grandpas of the world still want to communicate with you using faxes.
No, the problem is infrastructure, or lack thereof. Do you know what percentage of the population still has landlines? OK, I don't either, but we all know that percentage is rapidly shrinking. Young kids just use their cellphones for everything. Being a bit older and having to communicate a lot abroad, as well as having a 6-year-old in the household that doesn't currently own a cell, I have an IP phone (a standalone Skype phone to be exact). Neither of those will let me send or receive faxes.
I held onto my landline for a few years just so that I could send/receive faxes, but when I realized one day that I use the fax machine, literally, like twice a year, I said the hell with it and got rid of the landline. Of course, once or twice a year, there comes a time when I seriously wish I had access to a fax machine in my home, and it drives me absolutely nuts.
I agree this app won't do jack shit, but it is true: the fax needs to be axed.
@Andrews Username
You clearly miss the root of the problem. Most consumers don't have fax machines anymore. Only businesses do. If they had them, they wouldn't need an app like this, would they, genius?
@tonicboy
I doubt too many consumers ever had a fax machine. You want to know why? Because they've never had a need to receive a fax. How many people do you know that have ever received a personal fax? I'm sure you could name at least a few that have sent faxes, but you don't need to own a fax machine to do that. There are many place that are within a reasonable distance to most anyone that will allow you to send a fax for a small fee. So really, there's no need for the app either. The only people that might because the closest place with a fax machine is miles away, isn't likely to be able to buy the iPhone anyways.
@Garst
so you're saying leaving work, find a place where I can send or receive a fax for a fee, drive there, fax/send, drive back to work, and continue my day?
Or possibly just spend $3 on an app that would replace that fee and hassle...
MANY buisinesses use fax machines still. I use it AT LEAST once a week.
@sweet greggo Perhaps you hate the phone too much and it's clouded your perception of just how powerful the phone and the apps for the phone have become?
@Andrews Username It's not that fax machines are hard to use. Try to find one of the things. Besides a UPS store or a Fed Ex store who the crap even has them anymore?!
Not to mention the quality is also completely terrible.
@sweet greggo
I know its an older article, but I just wanted to toss out "fax to e-mail"...
@Andrews Username Seriously? How about not owning a fax machine or having a landline? Because I have neither. Nor do i want to buy a fax machine or pay for a land line that I will never use. Bring on the death of the fax machine!
@RawheaD Several voIP's support faxing. I know, I haven't had a landline in years. Though I still have my caller id box and answering machine here. Though maybe I would go back to one, when I see a cheap enough price maybe. Anyway, I use cablevision on Long Island, and it works with faxes. Vonage does too, and magicjack though I have it and haven't actually tried it. Try to get people to take an email. I work for places that have fax machines, I can scan and email something but they don't have a way to print it. Don't ask, and another issue is they may have a fax machine in the warehouse but not email, or they need to print it out. Some places also didn't want to allow emails because of people abusing it or the possibility of liable on it. Yeah, you can abuse a fax and many people did that when they first came out but also now you are required to put your orginating name address and phone number on the page. And as for why it's crude well I have a machine and programs that can do full color faxes. Only problem is that it might take 20 minutes or more to send a page, they are using 9600 baud modems. Mine has a 56k baud but most older ones don't have that so it goes slow. Actually if I send a fax to someone who has a fax subsystem it can accept better quality and looks like a pdf image. Hey, did you all know that the navy was using WORDSTAR up until a few years ago because they required compatibility with each other because of sept 11th? Does anyone here even remember that? Early 80's, and they were still using it in 2003+.
MARC
Ok, Fax will never ever die. My mom as a real estate agent could never ever give up faxes. It is way to vital to what she does.
@Toushi
Why?
@Gad Get
Never mind, I just saw the post below yours, and it clarified things.
@Toushi
I wouldn't be so quick to say "never." "Never" is NEVER accurate.
@Toushi Your mom could eliminate fax. I'm a real estate agent, and rarely fax, or even touch paper. I have gone paperless with the following tools: Tablet PC with Wacom digitizer (which captures accurate signatures with the stylus), Microsoft Document Imaging included in Office (set as a printer it converts any document that I can print which can then be signed on screen), and a software PDF printer (for converting MDI files back to more mainstream PDF files.)
I still have an eFax account for when I need to send or receive a fax to/from a dinosaur like your mom, but those faxes are all sent and received electronically (without paper) on my end.
Whenever I need to fax a document I always ask if I can email it instead. More and more often the answer is "yes!" The only big holdouts are large banks and government entities which are mired in their old ways. They can't seem to break away from their unreliable communal fax machines.
Whenever someone hands me a hard copy of anything I immediately scan it into my computer as a PDF. Paper is a dead end. PDF's can be sent, received, and easily archived and accessed.
@(Unverified)
""Never" is NEVER accurate."
Sorry, that's a contradiction.
@Eternal Density
No it's not, because if you follow the logic, that second NEVER is not accurate, either, ergo, there are cases when NEVER *is* accurate. Namely when making the statement "Never is NEVER accurate" :-)
@Eternal Density
That was the point, silly... which is why it was in CAPS. But hey, I'm glad to see you're flexing that grey matter and exposing the obvious. Job well done!
My understanding, and I could be way off on this, is that fax is the only legally binding way to remotely sign a real estate contract. Of course you can do it in person, but you can't be bound to a real estate transaction through email or other mediums. It's in person, or fax.
@nak
Actually, in the State of Texas, a signed fax is not legally binding. Only the signed original document is legally binding. Real Estate Agents, still use the signed fax method to save time, but if there is ever a dispute that comes to a trial, the facsimiles will be thrown out immediately.
@nak In the state of Utah, and I suspect many other states this is not true. The real estate contracts state that electronic or faxed copies are also acceptable. In other words, there is no difference between faxing and emailing a picture of your signature.
I've just recently started my own business and still had to fax, not scan and email, my documents to my vendors in order to apply. Sure I played along because I really need these accounts, but it's really amazing the technological stranglehold the fax seems to have on some businesses.
@SaintSizzle
How is it a strangle hold if nothing superior has come about? It just goes to show that fax is and will continue to be a amazing creation.
@SaintSizzle - But the question is - would this app even solve any of that? Doubtful.
I agree, lots of businesses rely on fax. But when you're dealing with fax, it's extremely reliable. Even if a fax machine runs out of toner, it still stores the faxes for later printing...but if my email goes down and the server is booted offline, I have no way of retrieving any sent emails....
@Skizem It would be fairer to compare the email server going down to power to your fax machine going out -- in which case it won't be storing anything.
@Skizem
That's why there's a fax to email service. Whenever I send fax using Onesuite fax, I will get a confirmation whether the fax went through or not, hence I know if I need to send it again. when receiving, it relies on the email address I use, so far my Yahoo email never fails me.
This app seems useless at best. People don't fax on the go, they fax from their offices.
Email is slowly replacing faxes, with many machines having email sent/receive functionality built right in, making it just as easy to email as it is to fax.
We will get there some day :) But amazingly, most people see no need to change. Me personally, I cringe at the slowness and the poor quality.
@ScienceProUSAcom
People don't fax on the go? I'm not sure such an universal claim is true; I have several colleagues who work out of 'mobile' offices (i.e., their cars) and who would love to be able to receive and send faxes from a their phones! The world is a-changin'!
That being said, I think it will be some time before the fax machine disappears...
How about something for the smartphone less majority of phone users ?
They only way to give the fax the axe is to replace it with something better, more convient and a smartphone or email will not do that.
If you using a fax it is because
1 you have to sign something
2 you have to send something that is not digital
3 you dont feel like type something and just write it out and fax it over
4 you dont have access to a computer/email.
5 you can not use email for whatever your doing.
im guessing the big reasons are
you need to send something that isn't digital like a piece of paper with writing on it and faxing it is faster than scanning it or retyping it to email it.
you need to sign something; you can do this on a smartphone but the majority of people don't have smartphones.
the problem with many new solutions is that there not common place and many of the hundreds of millions of people wont know about them or use them because it is not productive for them with there needs.
Wait you still write things?
The fax machine is a dinosaur in need of a good old fashioned asteroid.
@FatTonyTCL
Yes I and almost all humans do.
Writing is and will be faster than anything you can find on the market right now.
With writing I don't need to wait for a device to turn on than load a program plus you make not always have a computer or phone present.
@Xoy The majority of people who need to fax things have smartphones.
@telepheedian
Not true
People responding to job applications have to fax documents a lot all people in the workforce dont have smartphones.
Anyone getting a school transcript for a school and its not in there state they will have to fax a letter.
When parents transfer there children from one school to another you either have to bring it in or fax it.
id say the average person may fax something about 3 times a year; and all uses for fax machines are not for business I have faxed personal documents many times to show someone else rather than going through to hassle of emailing.
I just hate how much I have to spend to send a simple local fax at my UPS store, since I fax so infrequently I can't justify one of those online fax things. International faxing? HA. Even way more expensive.
Whoever kills the fax (and it can't come soon enough) will have to figure out a way to make it backwards compatible. It doesn't look like this solution will work.
Example (by the way, I'm pretty sure this wouldn't work due to the phone network, but I'm going to present it anyway):
1. You tell me you're going to send a fax.
2. I give you my cell number.
3. I open an app, or redirect your call to the app
4. I download the file
5. I sign, or fill out the fax
6. I type in a phone number
7. Push "fax" and my cell calls your fax machine and drops off the document.
This remedies the situation for 90% of us who send less than 1 fax a year.
@Jf ...the phone company insist that faxes clog up the network and charge $2 per page for faxes...
@Jf
Google Voice should receive faxes for me... Get off your butts and do something, Google! (Only slight sarcasm there.)
And while you're at it, hows about you make GV a little prettier, especially the mobile apps. Useful, but ugly, ugly, ugly.
way off. the only reason faxes are used is because they provide delivery receipt. only other option for this beyond snail mail is direct line printers.
@Darkroom email delivery doesn't provide receipt because it is virtual (note that the receipt you send back in outlook or notes is a "read receipt" not a "delivery receipt"). take a look at regulated industries which require consent on acceptance of email delivery before it can count as a confirmed means to transfer information.
strictly from a business perspective, fax machines exist for instant delivery receipt purpose. information can be transferred almost instantly across large distances while retaining its near-original tangible state.
@ej4thewin
The reason a fax is still around is because it does not require a computer plain and simple.
You have email yes it can be used but its still a bitch to convert a non digital item to a digital item.
Then there is the time stamp and a paper trail which some places may require which can be forged easier on a computer than a fax.
I'd consider a text message more of a successor to a fax than email is.
@Xoy its the confirmation of delivery that you're missing. knowing that your message is received is vital!
who hasn't had a text message disappear into oblivion? anyone with t-mobile can attest to that! :)
@ej4thewin
Yeah, but I've also had random pieces of paper generated by my fax machine disappear into oblivion, too.
I'm not sure I agree with all this "delivery confirmation" stuff. It seems to me that fax and email are on equal footing. Both can verify that the message made it to a particular fax machine or email server, but email can go one step further and verify that the email was opened in the user's email app... a fax machine can't verify that the user actually picked up the piece of paper.
Smoke signals...!
This app seems like it's adding more work than it's taking away....so, now when I need to send a signature I need to:
-Scan the document
-Convert it to a PDF
-Add the signature
-Print it out and send it because I have a feeling that most places that are sending you documents to sign, won't accept an emailed version and rely on a fax.
I'm in my late 20's, I get that we have moved on from faxes from a technological and productivity standpoint but frankly I still like them.
It;s all just so tangible, you stick the piece of paper in one machine, it is duplicated on the other, there is almost instant indication that said process has happened. No confusion over spellings of names or domains, in most cases just 10 easily communicated and verified digits to communicate.
I get so many emails and phone calls in my personal and professional life, so much to keep track of and follow up on an instant physical document is just easier. Yes, it might be wasteful or not environmentally friendly but it is an easier concept to deal with, even if it is tossing it in my trashcan or putting on credenza to deal with when I have a chance.
on a grander note, speaking as a product manager. this app = fail
who do you know that uses fax machines for personal use?
who do you know that uses fax machines for business use?
who do you know that uses an iphone for personal use?
who do you know that uses an iphone for business use?
compare those answers and determine if this app has any point ...
There is nothing inherently special about fax over a POTS line. it is a scanner a send/receive protocol. "Scan to email" has existed for many years now, and is equivalent to a fax machine.
My family bought a fax machine in like 2002. We have yet to need to change the toner.
sending over fax is the most secure way of transmitting a document people...
aint never gonna change
@n3rdftw
You are correct. In a hospital setting, HIPAA regulations state that an email can be intercepted and is not a secure form of communication. Fax on the other hand is a direct connection between two machines. I know there is encrypted email, but how many people seriously even know how to send a secure email?