September is usually the time of year that Apple introduces new iPod models, presumably to cash in on the pre-Christmas buying spree that takes place each year. However, there have been rumours that this year will be different and that the new iPod line-up will be announced mid-August. Among the rumoured new features are a front-facing camera that will enable iPod Touch users to call other iPod Touch Users and iPhone 4 users with FaceTime. FaceTime, of course, is the video calling facility in iPhone 4 and it's brilliant, but so few people have iPhone 4s that it's hard to find someone to chat to. Adding iPod Touch users will help, but Apple needs to go further.
Imagine you have a brand new phone, but that it is incompatible with everyone else's phone. Who are you going to call? Only those few people that have the same brand and model of phone as you, nd that's not very many. It would be pointless. That's pretty much how FaceTime is right now. It's great if all your mates have iPhone 4s, but useless if they don't.
The way to get FaceTime working is to make it available everywhere and this is what Apple should do if it wants to make a success of the technology. Putting a front-facing camera on the iPod Touch and adding FaceTime is a step in the right direction and this will increase the number of people that are FaceTime-capable. But why not go further?
Macs have front-facing cameras, so why not release a FaceTime application for the Mac? This would mean that anyone with a Mac can video call anyone with an iPod Touch or iPhone 4 and vice versa (providing you both have Wi-Fi connections). The number of FaceTime users would very quickly grow as Mac users installed FaceTime and the more people that have it, the more people will use it. Apple could own the video calling market.
FaceTime could be a great unique selling point for Apple devices and it would encourage even more people to switch. How hard can it be to put FaceTime on a Mac? It's got the hardware and the Wi-Fi connection, so what's holding it back?
Monday, 9 August 2010
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