There is something very alluring about Facetime. Most people clearly enjoy it and it’s driving a lot of sales. Yet, it’s clear the current implementation may not be Apple’s endgame.
There are indeed many features lacking and a lot of room for improvement. I’m not only talking about allowing calls over 3G. We were all hoping for some iPhone-to-desktop support. Also, since FaceTime is using VoIP, it could work on older iPhones and iPods in a limited way. These things that might sound obvious, yet they aren’t included in FaceTime for now.
You might have already noticed: there is no need for a mobile signal to place a FaceTime call. If you launch a call from a contact card using FaceTime directly, the entire call goes over Wi-Fi. This means no costs involved, even when calling overseas. The fact that this capability is there could suggest that Apple is starting to become carrier-agnostic. Apple could allow iPhone-to-iPhone VoIP calls and, to a certain extent, push AT&T into becoming a simple wireless data provider. Which reminds me that Apple bought a VoIP provider last December…
Another point: FaceTime could easily work on the iPod touch. All Apple would need to do is throw a front-facing camera in there. The iPod touch already has Wi-Fi, so there you go. See the potential of such a feature? At $200 bucks a pop for an iPod touch, and no plan involved, it would be very easy to sell grandma on it so she can call you with video for free every Sunday.
As for legacy support, it might be nothing, but there are some things that hint at it. Apple has added a FaceTime URL scheme to iOS4, which will work on every device. You can try it yourself by typing facetime://01888facetime in the address bar of Mobile Safari. On a 3GS or a 3G it will ask whether you want to place a call, probably with the wrong buttons as in my case (see the above screenshot). Then, it will simply crash. On the iPhone 4 this will place a call (to Apple’s FaceTime support), straight through Wi-Fi.
Why include this? I think you’ll agree there is no need for it. So either it’s a bug, which is the most likely explanation. Or, Apple isn’t done implementing it on older devices. That’s less likely, but also possible. Desktop calling is still only rumored at this point and nothing specifically points to it. However, there are absolutely no limitations standing in the way, so it will probably come eventually.
It’s something really worth looking forward to, as the potential is enormous. In essence, what we are looking at here is the possibility of a universal, simple and well designed way to communicate with each other from all our (Apple-made at first) devices. Fortunately, it will be free and we won’t have carriers standing in the way.
In ios 4 beta 1 and 2, there was a process running in the background called iChat. To me, that hints at the ability to connect to iChat on macs…but who knows.
When I think about these wonderful possibilities, I pee a little.
I’m REALLY hoping Apple opens FaceTime for desktops running iChat. There’s no reason to have built
in cameras in all these Apple devices, but not have them able to use them to communicate with each other.
Hey! Do you reckon once they jailbreak the iPhone 4 we will be able to use 3g unrestrictor to make facetime calls. That would be sweet!
AGREED!!!!
My prayers is that a jailbreak will allow FaceTime over 3G… Oh please oh please!
I, for one, have always thought that a tiny little modification could give FaceTime (hey, that word autocorrected!) to 3G/3GS users: a double mirror attachment that let’s the camera see in front. I’m sure it could also include a better microphone which would also give an attachment point (the mic jack). Wouldn’t that be just wonderful?
We could use FaceTime with the front camera (3GS & 3G users)
The key is the back camera for 3GS & 3G users
3G NO, it doesn’t have hardware assisted video processing. So it can not do FaceTime.
iChat background process was for Game Center to perform limited chatting for gamers look at the GameKit