Wireless Video Phones
Back in the 1980's video phones were first invented by Bell Labs, but never hit the commercial market for numerous reasons, including high terminal costs and low bandwidth of existing networks.
Question: Would you be interested in seeing wireless video phones (Not Video on Demand, but actual point-to-point video and audio calls) released to the cellular industry, and, if so, what would you be willing to pay per device? Service Fees?
Question: Would you be interested in seeing wireless video phones (Not Video on Demand, but actual point-to-point video and audio calls) released to the cellular industry, and, if so, what would you be willing to pay per device? Service Fees?
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I wouldn't be that interested in having a video phone. I talk mostly to friends, and I already know what they look like.
Also, who wants to comb their hair or put on clothes to make a call? I'm a guy and I see the downside, and I'm sure for women it'd be ten times worse (gotta put on makeup, etc.).
Sure, I'm sure they'd have some sort of option where you could turn the video off, but then it ends up being a seldom-used feature that you're probably paying significantly more for.
I think some companies have already test-marketed video phones in some places in the world, and were suprised at how non-excited people were about the feature. Probably the best use of a video phone I can think of would be to watch a baseball game on the trai...
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Also, who wants to comb their hair or put on clothes to make a call? I'm a guy and I see the downside, and I'm sure for women it'd be ten times worse (gotta put on makeup, etc.).
Sure, I'm sure they'd have some sort of option where you could turn the video off, but then it ends up being a seldom-used feature that you're probably paying significantly more for.
I think some companies have already test-marketed video phones in some places in the world, and were suprised at how non-excited people were about the feature. Probably the best use of a video phone I can think of would be to watch a baseball game on the trai...
(continues)
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Oh, and I wouldn't be willing to pay more than $5/mo. for the video calling feature... and it'd be mainly for the novelty of it. Probably a better way to do it would be to charge for data sent... that way occasional/novelty users pay less, the hardcore pay more.
Wow, you guys really want to fill up those 3G networks, huh? 🙂
Wow, you guys really want to fill up those 3G networks, huh? 🙂
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and really, the only way to be able to use a video phone is through speakerphone. and you don't want to use that ALL the time. because in order for the caller to see you, the camera would have to be in front of you, not looking you in the ear. 😉
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BetterThanJake said:
Oh, and I wouldn't be willing to pay more than $5/mo. for the video calling feature... and it'd be mainly for the novelty of it. Probably a better way to do it would be to charge for data sent... that way occasional/novelty users pay less, the hardcore pay more.
Wow, you guys really want to fill up those 3G networks, huh? 🙂
That's going to suck up some bandwidth, unless they come up with a heavy-duty compression algorithm. Personally, I could give a flip. Good for the deaf, maybe, so they can read lips, but then they already have TDD devices, so I suppose not.
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