It has been rumored that the new 3G iPhone features a front facing camera. Assuming this is true, the camera will be used for video calling. An important question is what protocol will be used for the video calls?
I have written a guest post at Smith on VoIP blog regarding the difference between 3G-324M and SIP regarding mobile video telephony. In that post I explained that currently mobile video telephony (on handsets) is made possible using 3G-324M. SIP, on the other hand, is spreading worldwide and is part of IMS. I wonder which way will Apple go. My bet is on SIP.
Apple has never followed the crowd. When the iPhone was launched, it was a 2G phone with GPRS – something unthinkable for a high-end phone. It was said that web browsing speed is slow and that it was missing features. Yet, mobile web browsing has never been so popular. The iPhone is the most talked about gadget in the world (overhyped even) and the most coveted mobile phone in the world. This means that using 3G-324M for the iPhone is going to place Appel in second position and not as the innovators or leaders in this field.
3G-324M would allow the iPhone to do video telephony in QCIF resolution (176×144 pixels) with a maximum of fifteen frames per seconds due to the low bandwidth of 64 kbps. However when using SIP, this will not be the case (at least not when using WiFi) – the limitation will be the processing power of the phone itself.
Using SIP, Apple can continue with their focus on IP-based technologies and their strategy of using the iPhone as a web appliance: While video calls over 3G-324M require circuit switching (only through a mobile operator’s network), SIP fits 3G data network as well as WiFi.
SIP also gives Apple easy connectivity between the iPhone and their iChat application on the Mac – an application with some avid followers, such as Kfir Pravda.
So what does Apple gain by using 3G-324M?
- Direct access and connectivity to over 400 million mobile phones supporting video calls
- Connectivity with no need for WiFi
What does Apple gain by using SIP?
- Direct access and connectivity to Apple iChat, as well as other SIP-based clients
- Ability to use video telephony in the USA (which currently doesn’t support 3G-324M)
- Connectivity over WiFi
There are two additional options though:
- iPhone will come with Skype, or any other IM client.
- iPhone will come without any video conferencing capabilities.
We will have to wait a few more weeks until the final answer will reveal itself.
Comments and trackbacks
1. ehab | August 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am
it is not clear the difference between the 3G-M and SIP.
Also, does the iphone 3G has video call or not
2. Tsahi Levent-Levi | August 31st, 2008 at 5:54 am
Ehab – I’ll be addressing the issue of the differences between 3G-324M and SIP in a later post during September.
As for the iPhone – when it was finally released, about two weeks after this post, it had no video calling feature.
3. Scott Wharton | September 30th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Hi Tsahi,
Great blog! Do you have any stats to support your 400m mobiles with video capability?
I posted a blog on why 3G mobile video is not launched yet in the US. Any ideas on how to answer that question?
http://www.ipbusinessmag.com/blogs.php?blog_id=933&author_id=3
Scott
4. Tsahi Levent-Levi | October 5th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Hi Scott,
The 400m is a number I remember from a post I read about a year ago. Couldn’t find it, but did find the following statistics: http://www.wirelessdesignasia.com/article-7739-gsmmarketsharereached866ofglobalmobilesubscriptionsin2007-Asia.html.
WCDMA subscriptions are 179m (somewhat less than 400m, but still quite a lot). If I assume 80% of those have video calling (every 3G handset here in Israel has 3G calling besides RIM’s phones, which I believe is the case elsewhere as well) then you have about 140m subscribers.
5. Mustafa Iqbal Naviwala | October 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Hey Scott…
I think the facts you revealed does not seem to be true..
In fact, the great news is that video-conferencing on a portable device like iPhone is very helpful.
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