Blogs promote the exchange of ideas. I've used this blog for several semesters to get students talking about media industry topics. Articles you read, post and comment about should deal with media programming topics, and this is a wide-open arena—programming developments, traditional and new distribution channels, technology developments, job and career matters, regulation (FCC?), program performance--including the new fall television season. I hope you’re beginning to get the picture.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Fring Brings 3G Video Calls to iPhone 4 — Are Networks Ready?
Fring has updated its voice-over-IP client, bringing support for the front-facing camera on Apple’s iPhone 4. Unlike the handset’s native FaceTime client, which is restricted to video calls over Wi-Fi and only to other iPhone 4 devices, the new Fring client supports video calls over 3G and calls to non-Apple devices such as those running Android and Symbian S60. With widespread platform support and 1.7 million iPhone 4s sold in the first three days of availability, Fring’s software is fast opening up the floodgates for mainstream video over cellular wireless.
Unfortunately, carriers had better get ready for an uptick in video-calling and video transfer in general. A recent Pew report indicates a near-doubling of consumers recording mobile video in the past year. Capturing and uploading such video is just a start — once the user-base of clients like Fring, Skype and FaceTime reach critical mass, handset owners could be flooding mobile pipes with video calls. Indeed, our own GigaOM Pro research report on video calling (subscription required) estimates that the mobile video chat market will have more than 143 million customers by 2015. Let’s hope the carriers fulfill their planned 4G upgrades and embrace high-quality video calling on the faster, new networks.
1 comment:
I think Facetime is cool. I have done it and I enjoy it a lot.
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