Over the last few days as a lead up to CTIA in Las Vegas there has been a push from AT&T about video communications on mobile phones.
Let’s start with the sleek Nokia E71x that promises two way video.
Then there are the smartphone from Samsung which may be running Symbian I hear. This baby offers one-way video ala QIK but also uses the AT&T Video Share service.
When you add in the rumored Skype for the iPhone you have to see why all this is happening. AT&T wants to sell more data plans. Period to pay for the upgrade that’s needed for their network. The network, which is stresses in some markets (mostly the top 10 cities in the USA) is robust elsewhere.
Their mission is to get more people in more places using mobile data, not just the iPhone crowd on both coasts which currently is the majority of the users.
Andy,
The E71 may offer two-way video, but I believe that’s 3G-324M (circuit switched and not data). Though in the US, I don’t think it will work – it’s not even stated as a feature in the link you provided.
As for video on mobile – it makes perfect sense, but it won’t happen in the near future.
There are other, better markets for video communications.
Tsahi