

FaceTime will be successful because you don't need an account - a4agarwal
http://sachin.posterous.com/facetime-in-iphone-4

======
mixmax
This is interesting because it shows how far behind the US is in the telecoms
space.

In Europe this has been a basic feature of all 3G phones for around five
years. If you want to videochat you just press the button and call somebody up
using their normal phonenumber.

It was pretty hyped up, but it never really caught on because there simply
aren't that many usecases where you want to videochat with people on the go.
Especially as you have to hold out your phone in fromt of you in a somewhat
awkward way. Now it's just old and tired.

~~~
henrikschroder
Over WiFi instead of 3G is somewhat of a novelty though, but still, the
problem with video conversations isn't technical, it's that most people do not
want to do them.

I remember six years ago when 3 launched over here and tried to convince
everyone and their mother that video calls were the future. I had some
colleagues who got their phones, and I saw them use the video call once, maybe
twice, only for testing. I also remember seeing some people do video calls on
the subway.

It all quickly stopped though as soon as people realized the drawbacks of
video calls for everyday conversations and now you never see it, even though
all phones have the capability.

~~~
mixmax
Over WiFi is a novelty - but it's also a hack to get around the fact that the
US carriers are way behind Europe and Asia.

~~~
henrikschroder
Oh, I just assumed the US went through the same cycle of consumer disinterest
as the rest of us.

------
Tichy
"iPhones then create a direct peer to peer connection over the internet. The
iPhones deal with all IP addresses, firewalls, NAT issues automatically."

Isn't that impossible without an intermediate server?

Edit: OK, thinking a bit, I never looked into the Skype trick much, but I
would guess, send a request to a server (that doesn't respond). Then you have
an open connection/port listening to the response from the server. If you can
tell the other party about that "hole", it can send a packet across the
firewall.

While for Skype that is done by a server (if necessary), the iPhone could send
the information via the phone line?

As I said, no idea how the details work, just a rough idea. Or maybe they just
use a server.

~~~
alex1
If there is an intermediate server involved (probably a STUN server), it just
helps set up the connection. The actual UDP packets don't go through any
middle man. This is how residential VoIP services have been working without
requiring any firewall/router configuration by the customer. It's also the
same thing when you set up an iChat or Skype video call with both parties
being behind a NAT.

~~~
astrange
Yes, it uses STUN - you can see it on the keynote slides when he listed the
standards used.

By the way, this article makes it sound like Posterous invented the concept of
not having accounts? Even though it was obviously invented by 2channel.

------
car
You do need an account, but it's with Apple.

~~~
jolan
Right. They said they use SIP for this, which does require an account. I
assume Apple/AT&T are automapping phone numbers to SIP accounts.

SIP video phones have been on the market for years already.

~~~
ryanhuff
Can you share a link which explains the details of Apple using SIP for this?

~~~
jolan
I don't think there is one yet. Just this slide showing that they're using a
bunch of VOIP protocols to implement it:

[http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/06/apple-...](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/06/apple-
wwdc-2010-384-rm-eng.jpg)

------
callahad
Hm, looks like the FaceTime button replaces the "Hold" button on the call
screen. Is it still possible to place FaceTime-capable callers on hold?

------
alex1
It will be _really_ successful when you can video chat with any device whether
it's an iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android, anything. And when it works over 3G.

~~~
henrikschroder
No it won't be successful this time either. The reason video calls aren't
replacing voice calls has never been technical, it's always been social.

~~~
swombat
I make video calls all the time via Skype with both friends and family. The
reasons I never picked up phone video calls was because 1) they rarely worked
properly, 2) they required compatible handsets (see 1), 3) they were several
times more expensive than normal voice calls.

This solves all 3 of these problems. Almost everyone I care to talk to (other
than my parents) has an iPhone and will be getting the iPhone 4.

~~~
henrikschroder
Video calls have their (limited) uses, but they will never be succesful, they
will never overtake voice calls, and Apple has shown _absolutely nothing_ that
hasn't been available for years in Europe or Asia.

We've had 3G video calls for years. Almost all cellphones except the bottom
range have it, all carriers support it, there has been massive advertising
campaigns and hype about it when it was introduced, it was the whole _point_
of switching to 3G, and yet it's a massive flop.

I'm sure you and your friends will be very happy getting it, there are always
exceptions, but video calls will never surpass voice calls in mass-market
popularity, they won't even come close.

~~~
swombat
Did anyone claim video calls would surpass voice calls? I don't think even
Apple made such a claim.

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gojomo
I have a sneaky suspicion they might be pinging some switchboard with self-
reported telephone numbers... and thus there could be some privacy blowback
(mapping phone numbers to mobile IPs) or potential for phone-number
impersonation (at least until you show your face) in FaceTime.

~~~
ryanhuff
I don't see why you would suspect such a thing. All iphones already have a
unique identifier, and the device is associated with your itunes account. So,
Apple has all the information they need to authenticate you.

I can see no evidence in the facts that they are following the model that you
stated.

~~~
gojomo
A 'sneaky suspicion' means it's derived from my slightly-paranoid intuition,
not extant facts. We'll see!

(Maybe Gizmodo will get some jailbreak pro to make one of their phones
selfidentify as Jonny Ive's, then crank-FaceTime Steve Jobs. Or maybe not.)

