Rumor: 3G iPhone to do video chat, but when?
Skype has time to respond to Kevin Rose's prediction since this is unlikely before 2010; AT&T mobile doesn't seem ready for this much 3G/4G data traffic.
But what if?
If Apple launches a 3G iPhone with two videocams this summer, it would leapfrog today's generation of Skype hardware. None of the devices support Skype video calls, certainly not at higher resolutions or frame rates. This includes the successful iSkoot mobiles like the 3 Skypephones, devices like the Nokia tablets running Skype for Linux, and embedded-Skype devices like those from Ipevo and Belkin. An entire business ecosystem waits for Skype to upgrade their software.
Apple leads the industry by raising customer expectations, first with iPods, then the iPhone. Skype is piling on by driving high quality video in PC-to-PC talk. An iPhone iChat Video would feed that taste for realtime video calling. When it happens, iChat Video over iPhone may restore the iPhone's identity as a mobile phone again. A newer, better, unique mobile phone.
Skype has about six months to seed the embedded hardware pipeline with a video platform if they want to compete.
Comments
You are dreaming if you think Skype is going to do anything remotely resembling what you have suggested. First, and foremost, THEY DON'T CARE WHAT THEIR CUSTOMERS ARE SUBJECTED TO. Period. They don't care. Second, doing so would require that they create something resembling a "Customer Service" department to handle such reports, and they have made it perfectly clear that they are not willing to invest the resources necessary for that, either monetary or human. Third, stopping this activity would require Skype to deny or cut off SkypeIn numbers, which would cost them money, and that is the ONLY thing they are interested in, bringing in money, in any way they can, from anyone one they can, no questions asked. That is why Skype is becoming a haven for pornographers, which Skype refuses to do anything about, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that they are being joined by con artists and scammers.
Posted by: J.A. Watson | March 25, 2008 02:54 AM