Okay Geek Farm
Second Chance for Video Chat
Darryl Cobb
If you believe all the media hype from Apple and HTC, you’d swear video chat on a mobile device is something new, then you thought wrong. Because guess what folks? News flash: this technology has been around since “1999”, according to CNN, but nobody picked up on it. This time, however, it’s a bit different, so I thought I’d list a couple of reasons why I think video chat will finally take off with iPhone 4.
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The Hardware | |
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Never in the history of mobile hardware has there been so many high end phones that the masses could afford. The EVO 4G and IPhone 4 are both going to weigh in at $199 entry mark. Both have front facing cameras and both have rabid fan bases to build off of. And with such a warm reception to these two phones, expect front facing cameras to become standard from now on. And given that almost any laptop you get has a webcam built into it and soon to follow TVs, it looks like the video chat playground is set. |
| The Software | |
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Right now, there hasn’t ever been a time when the software to do so has been so familiar to so many people. Qik and FaceTime may get all of the attention because they are the launch favorites of Sprint and AT&T right now. But the key to video chat taking off on the mobile space is Skype. Even if you don’t use video calling, you’ve heard of Skype. It’s on your computer, on your phone (if you’re a Verizon Android user) and if Panasonic and LG have anything to say about it, it will be on your TV. And according to Skype, “We’re betting big on video, and we intend to set the bar on mobile video calling, and it’s something we’re going to do this year. We will be bringing a direct to consumer app to the Android marketplace later this year. This application will be available for all consumers globally to download regardless of carriers.” |
| The Price | |
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The old entry price for video calling was $1500. There was no value in it and at that price tag, your neighbor or your blind date, or your grandma wouldn’t have on in the living room. Qik, is charging $5 per month on top of their free service to use the high quality camera on the EVO 4G, no pricing info was listed on Apple’s FaceTime and Skype and Fring remain free. And like I said earlier, you can get a perfectly capable handset for under $200 on contract right now. |
| The Consumer | |
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Lastly and this is the biggest, us. People are more open to being photographed and having video shot of them and uploaded for public view. We don’t want you to tell us, we want you to show us. However, this is going to kill the blind date business, I just know it will. I can see us streaming en route to a party and seeing if we really want to go or it’s something not to be missed. We can enjoying “Youtube” moments in real time with our friends. And it just might help long distance cheating, I mean relationships. |
Those are my four reasons that I feel video chat will finally take off seriously. I would be glad to here your thoughts on the subject,
