“Apple, Google and Microsoft all want to be your phone company. But with both competitors’ communication offerings in disarray, Apple has an opportunity to offer the best, most elegant and integrated communication platform,” Mike ELgan writes for Cult of Mac.
“All they have to do is keep moving in their current direction, make a couple of key rumors come true and keep Steve Jobs’ promise about FaceTime,” ELgan writes. “Apple’s total communications system now includes FaceTime Audio, FaceTime Video and Messages all of which will soon be supported by all iOS and OS X devices.”
“The ultimate future home run, of course, is when Apple does and should auto-select how to make calls. In other words, you call someone by taping a face or phone number and your phone, tablet, laptop or desktop connects the call through FaceTime Voice or the phone system depending on whether the other person has FaceTime Voice and also depending on the speed of the data connection,” ELgan writes. “In fact, the biggest opportunity for Apple in communication generally is the gradual removal of the need for users to make any decisions or know anything before connecting with people.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 beta reveals FaceTime Audio for Mac – December 19, 2013
FaceTime Audio is Apple’s biggest little feature addition in iOS 7 – September 23, 2013
Carrier disruption? Apple’s iOS 7 FaceTime Audio brings free long distance calling to iPhone users – June 12, 2013
“the gradual removal of the need for users to make any decisions or know anything before connecting with people”.
In my neighborhood, that’s called “meeting at the corner bar”.
“Call someone by taping a face or phone number?”
You will ruin the touch interface by placing tapes on it! Me thinks you ought to have said TAPPING!!!
Fool!
Hey elf, isn’t that exactly what happens with most of the posts on this forum? Seems like it to me.
Some of them have been at the bar too long.
“In fact, the biggest opportunity for Apple in communication generally is the gradual removal of the need for users to make any decisions or know anything before connecting with people.”
I’d say that’s Apple’s philosophy in a nutshell.
First, Apple should clean up its act, i.e., end the fragmentation between (i) FaceTime/Messages/iChat (or whatever it’s called); (ii) iOS/OSX; (iii) various versions of the software/hardware.
Moreover Apple should inform its users what exactly CAN be done (e.g., multiprotocol messaging, how to activate a destination address for a contact).
Right now things are a complete mess. Can’t use messages/facetime between any 2 devices I own (a few years ago, I could). I do tend to be an early adopter, but only when I am in the market for a new device. My wife and I each own an iPhone, an iPad, and a Mac (not to mention an iBookG4 and a lampshade iMac, both working fine but gathering some dust).
Many other Apple users are in the same bind.
I used to have a long list of buddies. Today, these correspondents have all but disappeared, most probably out of confusion.
Somebody gets what Apple is about.
This is the reason Google is building their own fiber optic network. They are on the same page here. What mobile web did to MS, it will do to telecoms and TV networks. The Netflix model is what a TV network will eventually look like. Change is coming fast, and some old players are going to get run over if they don’t move along with it.
Oh, let’s hope so … 🙂
Isn’t Apple already the ultimate phone company?