The printed phone directory is well on its way to becoming a history book.
Now that Verizon Communications has been granted government approval in several large American states to stop delivering white pages as a condition of service, technology is ending a tradition that dates back to New Haven, Conn. in 1878, just two years after inventor Alexander Graham Bell placed his first call.
Canada was already ahead of the curve, as publisher Yellow Pages Group did not deliver new residential directories in Toronto last spring, and just 1,000 residents requested one, compared to the 1 million copies that used to be dropped off each year.
Telephone companies are still technically obligated to make the directories available, although a request was filed with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to discontinue their publication. With mobile phone listings not appearing on paper, though, even those without home Internet access were drawing little benefit from a new annual book of numbers.
That was predictable!
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