Can Apple make video calling work in iPhone 4?

It has been possible to make video calls for a long time and mobile phones with video capabilities have been around for years, but when did you last make a video call? You've probably never made one. In fact, your current mobile phone may not even have video call capabilities. It's not because of any technical limitations, it's just that mobile phone manufacturers tried it and nobody wanted it. I remember the TV ads promoting mobile phones with video calling, but the devices never took off. Mind you, 10 years ago the mobiles and networks were a lot less capable than they are now. Apple's new iPhone 4 has built in video calling capabilities called FaceTime, so can the company do what everyone else has tried and failed at? Do the networks and mobiles now have the capabilities to make this a feature you'll really use or will it continue to be ignored?

FaceTime is in some ways brilliant and it is the best video calling capability from a mobile phone yet, but it is unlikely to be a feature that you will use very often and it probably won't change the world. The reason is because of its limitations.

The first is that this is an iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 feature only. Both you and the person you are calling must have iPhone 4s. This will be the biggest limitation and different people like different phones, so it is quite likely that half the people you know won't have iPhones. Of the people you know that do have iPhones, how many will immediately upgrade to the latest version 4? Probably very few initially, although over time as people change their phones, some may opt for the iPhone 4. It's going to be quite some time before a significant number of the people in your contact book have iPhone 4s.

The second limitation is that it only works over Wi-Fi. Not only do you have to be connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, but also the person you are calling too. What are the chances of you both being connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot at the same time? You would probably have to arrange for both you and the other person to be at a certain place at a certain time. For example, you could call home from a hotel if you are away traveling say, but really this is only slightly more convenient than a video call using your computer and webcam.

FaceTime is definitely a step in the right direction and someone has to take the first step. Apple may kick-start video calling in the long term even if it's not going to be used much right now. Just imagine if this feature was on all mobile phones and it wasn't limited to just Wi-Fi. People then might just use it. Of course, you won't always want to speak face to face with people, so most calls will still be voice only, but occasionally being able to use video calling and not having to think about whether the other person has an iPhone 4 and they are at a Wi-Fi hotspot would be cool.

I suspect that in the future the vast majority of calls will still be voice only and video calling will only ever be used to call your closest relatives when they are either working or living far away, a bit like the way people use their computer and webcam today.