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Video calling has been available in Japan for about a decade - but no one really uses it. In part, it is because of the price.

But I believe fundamentally most people don't want to make video calls. I use skype all the time, which has a video feature, but rarely use it. To me, video calling feels unnatural.

Furthermore, well it is practical in most situations to make a normal call, video calling only works in certain situations. For example, it won't work while you are walking, or otherwise occupied. As such, you have to make a conscious decision to this time use video calling, and not voice.

I don't think video calling will go much beyond a novelty feature.

2 comments

Same experience in the UK.

3G video calling was so unpopular that even when some of the carriers started including video call minutes as regular minutes (making video calling essentially free, anywhere) no one used it.

Apple has some advantages that might give it a chance though:

- The user experience is better. Convert to video mid call is nice, and it tells you when it's available.

- No one in the US has seen it on a large scale yet, so it'll have a novelty factor that will help get people to try it out.

- The video quality is better, because it was designed for newer systems and newer codecs.

But counting against them is the relatively low penetration of FaceTime capable devices. Almost everyone in the UK has an inter-operable video call capable phone.

I make video calls every day with iChat.

I'd say one thing helping you is that you don't need to hold the camera.

I won't be surprised if Apple makes this a success but calling it epic is nothing but laughable to all of us who could do it since before the year 2000...