O ye who lead,
Take heed!
Blindness we may forgive, but baseness we smite.
William Vaughn Moody, An Ode in Time of Hesitation
Video Calling appears to be on track to hit the predicted milestone of twenty nine million (29,000,000). This statement is based on projections by Juniper Research published in October 2010AD as stated in the article “Mobile Video Calling to hit 29 million users by 2015”, published October 12, 2010 9:10 AM PDT by Don Reisinger, CNET News - The Digital Home and “Smart phone Video Calling adoption stymied: Juniper”, published Tuesday October 12, 4:28 pm ET, AFP, Yahoo! News.
Chatroulette, thus far the only Video Calling theme Social Network, is set to get a boost from this coming crush of Video Calling as prognosticated in my blog article entitled “Chatroulette, FaceTime and Smartphone Video Calling - The Thomas Crown Affair”.
Being the Fastest Rising Search Term on Google’s Zeitgeist List for 2010 as per the article “Chatroulette, iPad lead Google's Zeitgeist 2010”, published December 9, 2010 10:42 AM PST by Don Reisinger, CNET News - The Digital Home did not hurt either, as I myself saw this on my blog with a lot of search spikes for this VERY SAME article.
Earlier in 2010AD, the Apple iPhone 4 set the standard for Video Calling on a smartphone with the introduction of FaceTime. FaceTime marked the first true integration of a Video Calling Platform tailored uniquely for smartphones as per my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4.0 and Video Calling - FaceTime sets the standard”.
The Apple iPhone 4S has been a modest improvement on Video Calling with better Front and Rear Facing HD Cameras as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4S is a hit and the Apple iPod may get an upgrade - Steve Jobs Opus Major” and my Geezam Blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4S Post Mortem – Siri Voice Assistant and iMessage Rock”.
It seems though that FaceTime has not been made possible over Telecom Provider AT&T’s Network via the iOS 5.0 update. Strangely Skype has this privilege since June 2010AD as per the article “Skype for iPhone now support 3G, but free ride's ending”, published June 2 2010, by Ben Patterson, Yahoo! News and as noted in my blog article entitled “Skype and the Videophone - The Apple of my eye is FaceTime”.
Telecom Provider CLARO in Jamaica, before being gobbled up by Telecom Provider Digicel on Friday April 11th 2011AD attempted to capitalize on Video Calling in the Apple iPhone. But they did very little advertising of its Video Calling capabilities.
Additionally, statistics from Analyst InStat and ABI Research in 2010AD indicate that more and more devices are coming pre-built with Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) as stated in the article “Wi-Fi smart phones to dominate”, published March 23, 2010 3:01 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - CTIA 2010 and the article “More people buying Wi-Fi enabled devices”, published May 4, 2010 10:03 AM PDT by Lance Whitney CNET News – Wireless.
This puts Telecoms Providers that provide Wireless Broadband via proprietary 3G, 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) on their guard as evidenced from my Geezam Blog article entitled “Crouching LIME Huawei E586 Mi-Fi – Hidden Dekal Wireless Dragon”!
So the future of Video Calling here in Jamaica appears to be via Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks such as Wayne Chen and Lee’s family owned Dekal Wireless and Nubian-1 Tech Services Limited via Laptops (now UltraBooks, their eventual replacement!!), smartphones and Tablets.
Remember folks, the NetBook is already extinct!!!
Smartphones sporting proprietary 3G, 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) Radios will also be popular, but less so than the already ubiquitous and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Open Architecture Standard already popular with Laptops, UltraBooks, smartphones and Tablets.
The same is also true in the US of A, as our American counterparts are most likely to make Video Calling more popular now that:
1. Most smartphones sport a front-facing camera
2. Wireless Broadband Speeds are getting faster, suitable for clear Video Calling
3. Wireless Broadband Prices will get cheaper as Telecom Providers migrate to faster 4G LTE Networks
4. 3G, 4G LTE and WiMaX 4G Mobile Networks begin to support technology that allows Handover to Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) as recorded in my blog article entitled “KDDI's Broadband WiMax and Wi-Fi Municipal Network - Ruckus's Japanese Flight of the Navigator”
5. Spectrum freed up from the Analog Television DSO (Digital Switch Over) in 2009AD can be used for Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) as recorded in my blog article entitled “Telecoms and White Spaces - A Man for All Seasons and the Big Bang Theory”
Throw in the fact that you can “steal” Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) from Open Networks as noted in my Geezam Blog article entitled “Crouching LIME Huawei E586 Mi-Fi – Hidden Dekal Wireless Dragon” and you can see the appeal of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n).
So what is needed to make Video Calling really take off?
Common Video Calling Standards, much as there is a need for common IM (Instant Messaging) Standards, which was my recommendation post the great BB Messenger Outage of October 2011AD as STRONGLY suggested in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4S and Apple iMessage - Timeline for Standardization of Instant Messaging”.
This as there is a smorgasbord of IM apps and programs for smartphones, Laptops and Tablets, but no common stand that allows them to talk to each other i.e. Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Skype, Fring, OoVoo, etc do not talk seamlessly to each other as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple and FaceTime - BladeRunner and Beyonce and Lady Gaga's Video Phone”.
So as I had recommended in the case of the Blackberry Messenger and Email failure, I would again recommend seamless secure Cross-Platform standard to allow these Video Calling Platforms and all up and coming Video Calling Platforms to be able to talk to each other.
It would also guarantee Video Calling Redundancy for users of one proprietary Video Calling Network, should in case their proprietary Networks fail e.g. FaceTime fails, they can re-route traffic over Server used by competitors to guarantee the five 9’s i.e. 99.999% uptime.
A good gesture among the varied Video Calling Program and app makers to make a clear break from the locked in proprietary models of PC and embrace the Developer driven models of UltraBooks, smartphones and Tablets in this “Post-PC Era”, courtesy of Beyonce and Lady Gaga Video Phone.
Cribbing from myself: Suggesting strongly that the Telecoms and IT boffins ironing out IM and Video Calling Standards, with the declining usage of SMS and MMS and the rise of M2M (Machine-to-Machine) Communications, free SMS subsidized by increased Paid M2M Traffic.
An inevitability as described in my blog article entitled “Telecom Provider LIME and M2M Services - Free SMS and EDGE for the Caribbean to Foster Regional Integration”.
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