New iPhone FaceTime ads, but have you used it?

The number of people with smartphones is a fraction of the total number of people with mobile phones. The number of people with iPhones is a fraction of the number of people with smartphones. The number of people with iPhone 4s is a fraction of the number of people with iPhones. The number of people with iPhone 4s that are currently connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot is a fraction of the number of people with iPhone 4s. And the number of people that you actually want to speak to face to face via a video call is a fraction of that. A fraction of a fraction of a fraction of... well, you get the idea. Is it any wonder that I've have my iPhone 4 nearly three weeks and haven't yet made a single FaceTime call?

FaceTime is brilliant - when it works. The problem is that it only works in very specific circumstances and you virtually have to pre-arrange it. It's purely an iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 application and even then it only works when you are connected to the internet via Wi-Fi. So you have to make sure that the person you want to speak to has bought an iPhone 4 and they are on Wi-Fi at the exact time that you want to call them via FaceTime.

Getting people to buy iPhone 4s isn't easy given that they are one of the most expensive mobile phones available. Some people can't afford it and others don't want to spend that much on a phone. Even if they do buy one, the chances are that when you call them they won't be on Wi-Fi when you call them. If only Apple had chosen an open standard that was on most, if not all smartphones, and it worked over 3G, it would be much more usable. Maybe on a future iPhone FaceTime will work on 3G, but half the time I don't have a 3G signal either.

Adverts promoting FaceTime on the iPhone 4 are on prime time TV right now and four new ads have just been launched, so Apple is pushing it hard. It has too push it like crazy because FaceTime will only be really useful when large numbers of people have FaceTime-capable phones.

I'm not criticising Apple here and the problem is an old one. When you invent a communication technology, it only works when everyone has it. For example, when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone it was completely useless. After all, who would he call since he was the only person in the world that had a telephone? It was only years later that the telephone actually became useful.

FaceTime is in the same boat and right now it's useless. Not because it's a bad idea, but because so few people have it. In a few years time we might all be using it on a daily basis to talk to everyone. Right now though, it's the most publicised feature of the iPhone, but the least used.