As co-founder of tech site Digg, Kevin Rose is pretty well connected in the gadget world. So when he says that Apple is planning to release a mobile iChat application for the second-generation iPhone, he gets attention.
Apparently, the next iPhone will have two cameras, one on the back as now, and one on the front. The app will let users videochat from iPhone to iPhone, or from iPhone to people running iChat on desktop Macs.
Now, being the co-founder of Digg hasn’t stopped Rose from making inaccurate predictions before - he once claimed the first iPhone would have two batteries - one for music and one for calling - and turned out to be wrong. But his new rumour is worrying for a different reason: mobile video chat sucks. It sucks royally.
The UK has had 3G video calling for years, and nobody uses it beyond the first couple of novelty calls. Meanwhile, it’s doubtful whether 3G networks out in the wild (as opposed to in theory) are cut out for delivering high-quality video conferencing. HSDPA? Well, maybe, but you have to be in an area offering it.
Wi-Fi? Hmm, you’re appealing purely to people who want to videochat on their phones and who are within range of a hotspot or Wi-Fi network. That’s a niche of a niche right there.
Lastly, who wants a video chatting app that can talk to computers, if the only computers it can talk to are Macs? Unless Apple allows it to link with other PC-based application, such an app will only appeal to a select band of geeks and Apple fanboys.
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