iPhone four includes FaceTime movie talk

But movie talk will work only on iPhone 4s and over Wi-Fi

As expected, Apple on Monday exposed movie talk functionality on its newest smartphone, the iPhone four , which features a front-facing camera, albeit it only works over Wi-Fi.

The video-calling software, called FaceTime, was announced by CEO Steve Jobs as his "one more thing" tradition of exposing blockbuster technologies at the very end of his keynote addresses at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference.

In addition to only working over Wi-Fi, FaceTime only works from one iPhone four to another. Users can automatically switch from the front-facing camera focused on their faces to the rear-facing camera — to display others what they are eyeing — with a ordinary screen touch.

Analysts said Apple might expose later whether Skype movie calling and other third-party movie talk software could be supported. Jobs said the FaceTime software will be made into an open industry standard, which could theoretically, permit connections from other devices than Apple products.

But the fact that FaceTime will work only on iPhone four devices could be a way of building some product cachet as the concept catches on, said Kevin Cargo, an analyst at ABI Research.

"We’ve had some video-chat and video-calling capabilities before, but now Apple is telling, ‘Here is FaceTime and only you iPhone four people get to use it,’ which could help build a user community, since some people like being in a somewhat special group," Cargo said.

However, Cargo said, because FaceTime will only work within iPhone four products and only with Wi-Fi, enterprise interest in that functionality will be severely limited. "[Apple is] telling, if you want this functionality you have to invest in this technology," Cargo said. He doubted a large company would want to invest in the iPhone Four’s to get movie talk functions, since they won’t interoperate with other devices.

"I don’t see any major benefit to business users with FaceTime," added Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. "Even for consumers, after using it once or twice, will you proceed to use it?"

But other analysts say FaceTime will catch on, especially with consumers, at very first. "I don’t think enterprises are clamoring for [movie talk] right now, but consumers drive the enterprise and it will take off," said Ken Dulaney, a Gartner Inc. analyst.

"Businesses could use [FaceTime] in some cases," he said. "Maybe doctors."

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research, said Apple seems to be positioning its FaceTime and iPhone four front-facing camera to a wide-buying audience, as opposed to only consumers or business users.

"At this point it looks pretty consumer-oriented and only inbetween two iPhone 4s," Gottheil said. However, the technology could have broader adoption if the front-facing camera is included in the area of APIs (application programming interfaces) that developers could link into third-party movie talk programs, such as Skype. "Restricting it to iPhone four users is [Apple’s] way of getting commenced," he said.

Gottheil said the possibility of connecting iPhone four users to a movie and audio streaming service through Apple’s upcoming data center in North Carolina could be made in a future announcement. He noted that Jobs talked about using Pandora, a third-party streaming music program, in a multi-tasking manner, but not Apple’s own streaming service.

"FaceTime is somewhat what I expected, but I expected to hear more about APIs and an appeal to developers about movie talk, so maybe this is Apple’s way of kind of building a critical mass for [movie talk]," Gottheil added.

IPhone multi-tasking and the freshly announced iMovie for iPhone video-editing application will be used hand-in-hand by movie talk users, Gottheil said. Jobs also introduced a higher-resolution Retina display that will aid in movie playback and movie talk.

"Clearly, Apple is providing the [movie talk] platform with what looks to be better than Skype quality, so they are embarking to seed the market with movie talk users," Gottheil said. "They seem to be wanting to become what Kodak used to be to photos, with movie talk for all and not just geeks."

The fact that only Wi-Fi is being used for movie talk at very first is Apple’s acceptance of reality, that Wi-Fi works swifter than 3G cellular, analysts said. In his presentation, Jobs said Apple is working with cellular providers to prepare their networks to work with FaceTime.

Dulaney said the use of Wi-Fi-only is very likely because AT&T needs to more fully upgrade to HSPA plus, a quicker network speed. At one point, in reference to other functions in iPhone four , Jobs said the HSPA speeds are expected to be 7.Two Mbit/sec. for downlinks and Five.8 Mbit/sec. for uplinks.

AT&T, the special iPhone carrier in the U.S., has repeatedly called attention to its improvement to HSPA-plus, adding software and fiber-optic connections to cell towers, but the rollout is expected to last into next year, which could indicate when cellular-based FaceTime would be suggested .

Jobs had to ask conference attendees several times during his presentation to stop using Wi-Fi so that all the iPhone four applications on stage could be demonstrated. However, Gottheil said Wi-Fi would be able to support movie talk functions well, noting that many in the audience were using several Wi-Fi devices, and even base stations, that would connect to other Wi-Fi devices, providing much more bandwidth consumption than in a typical Wi-Fi zone.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld . Go after Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt’s RSS feed . His e-mail address is [email protected] .

Read more about macintosh in Computerworld’s Macintosh Topic Center.

IPhone four includes FaceTime movie talk – PC World Australia

iPhone four includes FaceTime movie talk

But movie talk will work only on iPhone 4s and over Wi-Fi

As expected, Apple on Monday exposed movie talk functionality on its newest smartphone, the iPhone four , which features a front-facing camera, albeit it only works over Wi-Fi.

The video-calling software, called FaceTime, was announced by CEO Steve Jobs as his "one more thing" tradition of exposing blockbuster technologies at the very end of his keynote addresses at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference.

In addition to only working over Wi-Fi, FaceTime only works from one iPhone four to another. Users can automatically switch from the front-facing camera focused on their faces to the rear-facing camera — to showcase others what they are eyeing — with a ordinary screen touch.

Analysts said Apple might expose later whether Skype movie calling and other third-party movie talk software could be supported. Jobs said the FaceTime software will be made into an open industry standard, which could theoretically, permit connections from other devices than Apple products.

But the fact that FaceTime will work only on iPhone four devices could be a way of building some product cachet as the concept catches on, said Kevin Cargo, an analyst at ABI Research.

"We’ve had some video-chat and video-calling capabilities before, but now Apple is telling, ‘Here is FaceTime and only you iPhone four people get to use it,’ which could help build a user community, since some people like being in a somewhat off the hook group," Cargo said.

However, Cargo said, because FaceTime will only work within iPhone four products and only with Wi-Fi, enterprise interest in that functionality will be severely limited. "[Apple is] telling, if you want this functionality you have to invest in this technology," Cargo said. He doubted a large company would want to invest in the iPhone Four’s to get movie talk functions, since they won’t interoperate with other devices.

"I don’t see any major benefit to business users with FaceTime," added Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. "Even for consumers, after using it once or twice, will you proceed to use it?"

But other analysts say FaceTime will catch on, especially with consumers, at very first. "I don’t think enterprises are clamoring for [movie talk] right now, but consumers drive the enterprise and it will take off," said Ken Dulaney, a Gartner Inc. analyst.

"Businesses could use [FaceTime] in some cases," he said. "Maybe doctors."

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research, said Apple seems to be positioning its FaceTime and iPhone four front-facing camera to a wide-buying audience, as opposed to only consumers or business users.

"At this point it looks pretty consumer-oriented and only inbetween two iPhone 4s," Gottheil said. However, the technology could have broader adoption if the front-facing camera is included in the sphere of APIs (application programming interfaces) that developers could link into third-party movie talk programs, such as Skype. "Restricting it to iPhone four users is [Apple’s] way of getting commenced," he said.

Gottheil said the possibility of connecting iPhone four users to a movie and audio streaming service through Apple’s upcoming data center in North Carolina could be made in a future announcement. He noted that Jobs talked about using Pandora, a third-party streaming music program, in a multi-tasking manner, but not Apple’s own streaming service.

"FaceTime is somewhat what I expected, but I expected to hear more about APIs and an appeal to developers about movie talk, so maybe this is Apple’s way of kind of building a critical mass for [movie talk]," Gottheil added.

IPhone multi-tasking and the freshly announced iMovie for iPhone video-editing application will be used hand-in-hand by movie talk users, Gottheil said. Jobs also introduced a higher-resolution Retina display that will aid in movie playback and movie talk.

"Clearly, Apple is providing the [movie talk] platform with what looks to be better than Skype quality, so they are beginning to seed the market with movie talk users," Gottheil said. "They seem to be wanting to become what Kodak used to be to photos, with movie talk for all and not just geeks."

The fact that only Wi-Fi is being used for movie talk at very first is Apple’s acceptance of reality, that Wi-Fi works quicker than 3G cellular, analysts said. In his presentation, Jobs said Apple is working with cellular providers to prepare their networks to work with FaceTime.

Dulaney said the use of Wi-Fi-only is most likely because AT&T needs to more fully upgrade to HSPA plus, a swifter network speed. At one point, in reference to other functions in iPhone four , Jobs said the HSPA speeds are expected to be 7.Two Mbit/sec. for downlinks and Five.8 Mbit/sec. for uplinks.

AT&T, the special iPhone carrier in the U.S., has repeatedly called attention to its improvement to HSPA-plus, adding software and fiber-optic connections to cell towers, but the rollout is expected to last into next year, which could indicate when cellular-based FaceTime would be suggested .

Jobs had to ask conference attendees several times during his presentation to stop using Wi-Fi so that all the iPhone four applications on stage could be demonstrated. However, Gottheil said Wi-Fi would be able to support movie talk functions well, noting that many in the audience were using several Wi-Fi devices, and even base stations, that would connect to other Wi-Fi devices, providing much more bandwidth consumption than in a typical Wi-Fi zone.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld . Go after Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt’s RSS feed . His e-mail address is [email protected] .

Read more about macintosh in Computerworld’s Macintosh Topic Center.

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