FaceTime Without Signal And Legacy Support Hints - Is There More To Come?
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.
