iPhone 4G/HD Video Conferencing

[bsugarman]

I manage a virtual group of mobile professionals. We already use office-to-office, enterprise video conferencing as well as person-to-person, consumer video conferencing (Skype and Yahoo mostly). I've learned over time that the video dimension adds significantly to virtual team management. What I'm wondering is whether mobile video conferencing (understanding its limitations in quality, bandwidth, etc.) will truly be useful or just a tech toy. Does anyone have any personal experience with mobile video conferencing from another area (e.g., Europe) that already supports this?

 

[dieseljesus]

Well, ive had numerous phones that used video calls, but it was more or less a fad over in europe. Mostly because it cost around 0.70USD a minute to make the calls. For a while, all 3G phones over in europe had the camera, but less and less video calls where made. Video chat/ichat or whatever they call it on the HD, is something that feels pretty old if i would be honest. It might be awesome with the new OS and depending on what apps you can use it in, but most probably, it wont be the success over in europe that Apple probably are waiting for. The 3G nets have been available maybe 8-10 years, and introducing video chat again will be something like introducing storage on MiniDisc. I might be wrong, only time will tell.

 

[bsugarman]

Interesting, thanks. Do you know if businesses have made much use if it?

 

[dieseljesus]

Ofcourse it could be a hit since apple is doing it. Like with MMS. Europeans tend to pay expensive fees to send pictures via text messages, instead of doing it like the japanese, americans etc (By mail on the phone). MMS is a hit over in europe i would say, but MMS wasnt included in the original iPhone remember. When Apple added it, it was recieved as a groundbreaking feature. This might be the same scenario. Its been around for ages, but when Apple applies it, it will be a hit. I dont know, but it will be interesting to see.

Regarding businesses, im not sure. I worked as a consultant for Sony Ericsson for a while and as far as im concerned, i never saw it used. Never seen it been used anywhere else as a matter of a fact. People probably used it as a fun toy when it was released, but stopped using it since it took time to connect, it wasnt the best video quality, it cost money. It will be interesting to see if Apple will get it right this time. Myself, im not sure why i should use it tho. Its full duplex, but you still kinda wait for the other to finish talking, and if theres a slight delay, it feels awkward to speak over video. It might be just me, but we just have to wait and see! Im sure they can get it up and running better than we can expect.