Has Videoconferencing Finally Come of Age Via I-Phone?

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Jeffrey Newman

For years now, business analysts have projected that videoconferencing would become the wave of the future, saving billions in travel expenses, time and efficiencies in processing information. It will, they say,  speed decision-making, connect families including the disenfranchised in our society such as the elderly.
Until now, it hasn’t happened. Enter APPLE with its streamlined videoconferencing Iphone 4 application . More importantly enter, APPLE’S marketing and advertising budget driving TV ads focusing on family unity and connectedness via I-Phone videoconferencing (a dad far away sees his new baby and his wife on the I phone…it doesn’t get any better). It sold me. I am buying one as soon as Apple fixes the recent gltich in its latest phone. These ads will, in my opinion, set seeds in many minds on the issue of human connection, including baby boomers connecting with their elderly parents. Indeed, I want to make a suggestion to Apple here that they sell two phones at some discount, BECAUSE of the potential for connection, communication, integration and human interaction. This seems so logical to me. Now, I don’t think the ads will advance videoconferencing into business in and of themselves. However, once the application is embraced by a larger population, the habit will carry over into business usage in a big way. I project this will occur soon and will be a viral phenominon for the following reasons 1) The technology works well and is reasonably priced; 2) There is a need for connections like this more than ever; 3) It will give small businesses great flexibility on short budgets in a recession. A combination of timining, economics, technological advances as well as a significant and growing need for people to find ways to connect with each other will converge to fuel the true entrance of videoconferencing in the next year.  There is also another aspect of this technology which excites me and that is its use by physicians and researchers to advance providing medical care and enabling immediate conferral between experts in various fields of medicine, something which has been on the horizon for a while now. This should enhance our medical care system and increase effectiveness in a wide variety of situations, from chronic diseases to emergencies. I want to see Apple do well primarily for the reason that I think it will soon be as essential to medical care as the suture.