Tuesday, February 3, 2009

iPhone Video Calling

An article in Information Week talks about an apple patent alluding to video recording, video calls, etc. I think most of us are expecting a front facing camera and the ability to record movies in the next version of the iphone, but this reinforces the notion that Apple is working hard on it. This is reassuring. 

It's tempting to think that this will enable us to use skype video on our iphones, but Apple will probably try to use this to expand the not so popular iChat service. Things are really getting insanely heated in the mobile device/mobile OS/mobile service market. It really seems like Apple and Google are squaring off for a ten years war, with the other players on the periphery. Things would heat up further if Google bought Skype from eBay!

This also got me thinking about the next version of iPhone and the improvements we can expect. A front facing camera and video recording is a definite. I would think that a compass sensor will be added, as each new sensor seems to open up a world of new possibilities. I think the really exciting changes will be enhanced horsepower. There have been rumors of multi-core ARM processors, enhanced video subsystems, etc. Certainly Apple has amassed an impressive army of chip designers and they are up to something. They know the iphone can be the platform of the future, but that it's going to need as much horsepower as possible to get there.


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