Recently WhitePages.com has aggressively gone after print white pages with its "Ban the Phone Book" site and environmental arguments against print. Now it's making arguments against traditional directory assistance:

In Canada, directory assistance costs consumers and businesses an estimated $252 million and in the US, it's as high as $6 billion a year. The cost has dramatically escalated over the past decade with the increase of cell phone usage. The average directory assistance expense for cell phones is around $2.00 (CAN) and $1.67 (US) per call. Traditional landline directory assistance is slightly lower but still between $.95 and $1.50 (CAN) and an average $1.26 (US) per call. 

Our previous research has indicated varying levels of awareness and cost sensititivity to DA pricing. But the fact is that most mobile phone users don't call DA because they're generally aware that it costs money. In our most recent consumer survey (n=707, 4/09) we found that only 20% of respondents said they called 411 from their mobile phones. Of that 20%, just under 90% (86%) said they only called "a few times a year."

Separately we asked mobile users whether they agreed with the statement, “Now that I can get the Internet on my mobile phone I no longer need to call 411." A majority of smartphone users (58%) and those intending to buy smartphones said yes, while a majority of non-smartphone owners (68%) said no. This makes obvious sense. 

It's also pretty obvious that traditional DA call volumes are declining because of Internet competition, which is also increasingly true in mobile. Somewhat paradoxically we can thus expect more price increases from carriers seeking to milk remaining DA revenues from unsuspecting consumers, while driving the aware and price sensitive out to alternatives. 

What's curious however is that the free DA sector has really failed to materize in any significant way as a 411 alternative. Consumers remain largely ignorant of free 411 alternatives and companies are reluctant to spend money to market the services.