“Two-way audio and video communication, for decades the promise of comic strips like “Dick Tracy” and TV shows like “Star Trek,” is about to take off. Really,” Mike Wendland writes for the Detroit Free Press. “I know. We’ve been hearing the hype ever since instant messaging and video cameras. But three factors make this more than a trend.”
Wendland explains, “First, the growth of broadband. Real-time audio and video requires the big bandwidth of a high-speed Internet connection. At the end of July, according to the current issue of Broadband Report, broadband penetration in the United States stood at just shy of 38 percent of all Internet users. By June 2004, it is expected to be 50 percent. That’s the type of traction that will make videoconferencing the hottest thing since e-mail.”
“The second thing that will jumpstart the use of videoconferencing is last week’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission to allow America Online to implement live video chatting for its 34 million customers. When AOL merged with Time Warner, it was prohibited from building in live video capabilities because video chat was seen as something that would give AOL an unfair advantage. But AOL’s share of instant-messaging traffic has dropped, and the FCC says the restriction is no longer needed,” Wendland reports.
Wendland writes, “The third reason video chat soon is going to break out is new hardware and software, like Apple’s awesome iSight camera and iChat audio/video instant-messaging program.”
Full article here.
