Have you ever purchased something that really delighted you, not just at the time of purchase, but for days afterwards? I remember the first Toyota car I bought – a 1981 Corolla station wagon. It was a wonderful little car with many neat features that I didn’t even know about when I bought the car. Days after the purchase, I’d discover something new and think, “Wow! I’m glad I bought this car!”

This week, I visited a customer that is committed to launching ‘Wow’ personal network products. What a great way to describe the challenge faced by mobile carriers today! Services can’t just be good – they must be great. Services can’t just be functional – they be delightful – they must have the “Wow” factor.

In 1981, Toyota made tens of thousands white Corolla station wagons – all alike. Back then, it was good enough to make people like me say, “Wow!” That won’t work today. Consumers demand much more choice and fine-grained personalization – both in cars and network services. Carriers can’t just serve a mass audience, they must create services that delight individuals.

And that, my friends, demands Identity-enabled network services. It can’t happen any other way.

PS. I searched all over to find a photo of a 1981 Corolla Station wagon, and finally found a 1982 model on eBay. The owner is trying to sell it for $3.500. Wow! That is almost as much as I paid for my much-less-used model in 1983.

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