What happened to FaceTime becoming an industry standard?

[The Phazer]

I think it's fair to say that Steve's statement at the time was... disingenuous.

Apple have never begun to publish the specs, and it's hard to see how they even could without fundamentally changing how the entire service works at present (authentication in particular).

And so while it remains locked to Apple OS'es only it withers on the vine and dies as a service - you wouldn't buy an iPhone that could only make phone calls to other iPhones, so why would people ever possibly do it with video calls?

Phazer

 

[goosnarrggh]

"Open" is not the same as "free" or "unencumbered". Devs are probably NOT flocking to make facetime video chat apps because Apple has a long history of banning apps that "duplicate functionality".

Apple also likes to play hardball with their stuff (in this case, their facetime protocol, their servers and their device users). If I were a dev looking to make money or grab market share, I do not think that iOS would be among my initial choices for targeted platforms because an integrated solution for video chat already exists there and the users would be unlikely to give my product a shot.

You're completely correct that "open", in the context of standards, doesn't necessarily imply "no-fee" or "non-patented".

However, "open" does imply providing a uniform, RAND (Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory) method of:
1) Collecting fees from everybody who wants access to the standard, and providing the complete documentation related to the standard to everybody who pays the fee, without playing favourites in deciding that some people are "allowed" to pay the fee and access the documentation, and others are not allowed. (If any fee at all is required to access the standard.)
1a) If no fee is required to access the standard, then openly distributing the specification to everybody for free, without playing favourites in deciding that some people are "allowed" to get the standard and others are not.

2) Collecting fees from everybody who wants permission to make use of the patents or other proprietary intellectual property which may be needed to apply the standard in the implementation of a working device, without playing favourites in deciding that some people are "allowed" to pay the fee to license the technology, and others are not allowed to obtain such a license. (If the standard publisher owns any of the patents or other related IP that may be related to the standard. But keep in mind that any 3rd party patents may still need to be licensed separately from those 3rd parties.)
2b) Similar caveat as (1a) above, if no fee is required to access any publisher-owned IP related to producing a working implementation of the standard...)

An "open" Facetime standard would be a standard that gives licensed (either for free or after paying a fee, as noted above) 3rd parties permission to write their own ground-up re-implementation of Facetime for other platforms (such as RIM or WebOS or Android or Windows) -- which are fully capable of carrying on seamless conversations with Apple's own in-house Facetime devices.

 

[Skika]

Maybe Apple wants it to be exclusive to iOS devices to create a hype around it. So its an bigger event when it hits pcs/android/etc.

 

[ssk2]

I simply think its the fact that Apple over-estimated how popular Facetime would be. I can't think of many people who want to regularly video call people, other than to family. Even then, the whole process is slightly tedious as you really can't *do* anything other than sit perfectly still while you chat for however long.

 

[mack pro]

Apple really thought they had a hit with facetime. Those facetime commercials were so cheesy that I'm glad facetime failed. The name doesn't help either, facetime just sounds stupid compared to something like skype.

 

[maflynn]

Apple really thought they had a hit with facetime. Those facetime commercials were so cheesy that I'm glad facetime failed. The name doesn't help either, facetime just sounds stupid compared to something like skype.

I wouldn't say I'm glad that it has failed to catch on, but I'm not surprised.

 

[SAIRUS]

I wonder how much profanity came out of Steve's mouth when FaceTime wasn't being adopted at a fast pace?

Yeah 3G restrictions and the "open" standard hurt it. It kinda feels like FireWire, thunderbolt, "HD" on demand, and microsims. Great ideas, work great, just not very practical at the moment.

Guess I'll enjoy Skype, blu-ray, and USB for now...

 

[Tarzanman]

you wouldn't buy an iPhone that could only make phone calls to other iPhones, so why would people ever possibly do it with video calls?

Phazer

....Lets not give Mr. Jobs any funny new ideas.... Apple is almost arrogant enough to think that your idea (in bold) is a good one!

 

[nateo200]

Facetime over 3G with limited data plans as they are now will fail...sorry money hungry carriers but I'm not paying $15 for 250MB's...

A good albeit unrealistic in some of the carriers eyes plan for this would be:

-Allow facetime over 3G along with other NATIVE video calling services
-Make Facetime data exempt from your plan and instead add minutes to Facetime seperate from regular phone calls. (Also make Google maps exempt from data usage...I think this is really only fair if you need maps but don't surf heavy).
-Facetime 3G minutes:
15 Minutes $0
120 Minutes $5
360 Minutes $10
720 Minutes $20
(Facetime over wifi does not go against this)

-Data plans:

$10=100MB's (for people who really want smartphones but aren't ready to pony up, they will quickly change to a higher plan when they realize how little data this is.

$15=500MB's (This is a reasonable amount of data for a basic user and fits more in place where the 250/200MB plan is currently)

$20=750MB's (Awkward medium where you feel like your getting boned for data so you don't choose this option )

$25=2GB's (Seams to be AT&T's and soon to be Verizon's standard)

$40=All you can eat nomnom on those bytes (I think us heavy users out there no what I am talking about )

Require all users with smartphones to have a data plan and smartphones with front facing cameras must have a Facetime 3G talk plan. A bit complicated but I like it I should talk with my economy instructor about this one.

 

[collisos]

I think it's fair to say that Steve's statement at the time was... disingenuous.

Apple have never begun to publish the specs, and it's hard to see how they even could without fundamentally changing how the entire service works at present (authentication in particular).

And so while it remains locked to Apple OS'es only it withers on the vine and dies as a service - you wouldn't buy an iPhone that could only make phone calls to other iPhones, so why would people ever possibly do it with video calls?

Phazer

(Bold) I think you and I and everyone here can realize that this comparison is outrageous. It's a feature of the phone, and we didn't buy iPhone 4 FaceTime devices.

 

[steadysignal]

FaceTime should have been iChat. It stinks that I can only chat 1 on 1 with FaceTime when I could be chatting with multiple family members.

talk about brand fragmentation....

 

[mysterioustko]

I think it's fair to say that Steve's statement at the time was... disingenuous.

Apple have never begun to publish the specs, and it's hard to see how they even could without fundamentally changing how the entire service works at present (authentication in particular).

And so while it remains locked to Apple OS'es only it withers on the vine and dies as a service - you wouldn't buy an iPhone that could only make phone calls to other iPhones, so why would people ever possibly do it with video calls?

Phazer

You said it best. The fact that Facetime is limited to the Apple ecosystem is a major problem for them. Like you said, I wouldn't buy an iphone that can only make calls to other iphones. That is what Apple failed to realize. There are more people that do not have iphones than there are those that do. That being said it would behoove them to use cross-platform capable software that would enable them to video call anyone (with a capable phone). But also, until cellular networks have the capability to carry video calls at the same quality as on a wifi connection, it will never fully catch on.

 

[collisos]

You said it best. The fact that Facetime is limited to the Apple ecosystem is a major problem for them. Like you said, I wouldn't buy an iphone that can only make calls to other iphones. That is what Apple failed to realize. There are more people that do not have iphones than there are those that do. That being said it would behoove them to use cross-platform capable software that would enable them to video call anyone (with a capable phone). But also, until cellular networks have the capability to carry video calls at the same quality as on a wifi connection, it will never fully catch on.

BBM only allows blackberries to text other blackberries. If your friend doesn't have a blackberry text him. FaceTime only allows iPhones to video call other iPhones. If your friend doesn't have an iPhone, use skype or tango, both free. Simple as that.

 

[mysterioustko]

BBM only allows blackberries to text other blackberries. If your friend doesn't have a blackberry text him. FaceTime only allows iPhones to video call other iPhones. If your friend doesn't have an iPhone, use skype or tango, both free. Simple as that.

right...and that's exactly why neither one of those is or ever will be an industry standard.

 

[collisos]

right...and that's exactly why neither one of those is or ever will be an industry standard.

BBM is absolutely HUGE and blackberry would have been dead a long time ago without it...

 

[mysterioustko]

BBM is absolutely HUGE and blackberry would have been dead a long time ago without it...

What you're failing to realize is BBM IS NOT an industry standard. It's just a messenger app on blackberry. Not the best example.

 

[collisos]

So what exactly do you mean by industry standard...maybe that's where the disconnect is.

 

[diamond.g]

So what exactly do you mean by industry standard...maybe that's where the disconnect is.

Like how GSM is an industry standard. In the terms of video calls H.323 was the industry standard. Now I think most people would say SIP is the standard. I guess the requirement is interoperability. FaceTime doesn't have that (currently).

 

[NutsNGum]

The name FaceTime just sounds like a term that some horrible marketing slug would use.

Marketing Slug speaking loudly into mobile phone whilst in queue at airport:

"Yeah, ahm, me and Derek ah just gonna catch some FaceTime with the guys at the NYC office"

Normal person: ""

 

[collisos]

My main point was that comparing facetime to "buying an iPhone that can only call other iPhones" is a bit over the top. But yes the industry standard thing, I agree.