Will video calling soon become as common as telephone calls?

Consumer Electronics
#1

Will video calling soon become as common as telephone calls?.

[newsimage]http://static.rankone.nl/images_posts/2011/02/JZwdVo.jpg[/newsimage]New technology always goes through phases. A product or service is released with limited appeal; either due to a high cost that makes most balk or a limit in its perceived value, few adopt it. Sometimes people just don't understand it. It's weird...different. Then, something magical happens. Costs come down. People aren't so scared anymore. Everyone else is doing it. It's hip. Video calling may soon cross that crucial line between "why?" and "why not?"


Read the full article here: [http://www.myce.com/news/will-video-calling-soon-become-as-common-as-telephone-calls-40079/](http://www.myce.com/news/will-video-calling-soon-become-as-common-as-telephone-calls-40079/)


Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.
#2

I love using Skype video calling but some of my friends/family do not. No idea why.

#3

Video calling has a place for things like calling distant relatives & friends you rarely see, calling your family when you’re travelling etc… but for everyday calls, no thanks. I don’t need to see the person and most of the time don’t want to be seen when I’m on the phone.

One time my friend said he was gonna Facetime call me at a certain time so we could try it on our new iPhones. When the call was coming, I had to be sure to be dressed properly, checked the mirror to make sure I didn’t look like I just escaped from prison, and I looked in the mirror and said “WTF am I doing ? I’m getting ready for a freakin phone call!?” And that was the nail in the coffin for “casual” video calls for me.

#4

Reminds me of the Jetsons, where Jane kept a properly made up mask near her phone so callers wouldn’t see her in her bathrobe, slippers and curlers…

#5

With the number of video enabled wireless tablets exploding on the consumer electronics scene, these portable devices will give consumers a kind of access they never had before. Webcams and stationary portable laptops were ok, but having a hand-held device for video calling just might be a game changer. That’s not to say it will happen so fast, there is still no real international standards for sending video… although services like skype, sip voip type services will expand to include video calling. Applications that interface with landline service and/or hand off to & from a cell-phone and/or wired/wireless broadband service would also be helpful.