iChat AV Updates
I landed on Irwin Lazar’s blog, from a post on VoIP Watch, mentioning the updates to iChat AV coming in Mac OS X Tiger (10.4). All very interesting features, but I really want Apple to support generic SIP-based services. (As I’ve mentioned before.)
I think Apple is in a unique position to be able to make their platform the premier integrated communications and presence environment. Hey Steve, you listening?
A.
Categories: VoIP
yup, i too would like to see ichat with a link to PSTN only sometimes i find it difficult to vizualize just how it would fit into apple’s plan. apple needs to be able to cash in on the idea – at the moment ichat earns apple next to nothing (beyond more halo effect), just as skype (without pstn related extras) brought in no boats. following the skype route might work – as a .mac user i would be quite happy to pay for a version of ichat that let me onto the pstn, though i would not pay annual fees. however the real opportunity i see is in the integration of ichat & airport. apple should make the much rumoured itunes phone able to make wifi based voip calls over an airport network, and give ichat a similar voip/pstn ability. this route gives apple the opportunity to make and sell HARDWARE, which historically been the mainstay of apple’s revenue. there may however be some dilemmas as other are already someway down the path such as http://www.optimobile.se/solution.html and would it be sensible to try to tie people in to airport? rather than make the technology work on any wifi network…. itunes/airtunes/airport express seems to get away with this so maybe we will see an apple branded gsm/wifi handset working with ichat/aircall/airport exchange or something. food for thought