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Comment by trezor | Hacker News Reader

Except you have to call first to verify that whoever you are calling is on wifi.

In Europe where wifi is something you have to search for and 3G is something which is everywhere, this renders the feature absolutely useless.

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I don't have to search for wifi at home or in the office, and that's where I spend most of the time.

Even so, I'm pretty sure Apple has thought this through, making it quick and easy to discover if someone is online, and even invite them through push notifications.

They did mention that they "had some details to work out" with the operators, which means that we will probably see video calls on 3G at some point in the future.

At home and in the office are also exactly the places where I'm also at a computer which runs skype and can already video chat. No compelling advantage there.

It's a bit easier to move around your home with a phone, so I'm guessing this is going to be used more frequently just because it's more convenient. Same with Skype now that the iPhone supports multitasking.

Not all 3G technology supports a data connection when there is also a voice connection.

I live in "Europe" (France to be exact) and wifi is extremely easy to find if you live here. Two of the three biggest ISPs here turn every customer's wireless router into an access point to share with other customers. The result is free Wifi within 500 meters of almost any residence in the country.

In addition, two of the three carriers offer unlimited Free wifi to these access points with the iPhone plan, even if you're not an ISP customer. So you're doubly covered.

I checked the iPhone plans of the UK and Germany, and they both offer free Wi-fi access with the iPhone plans.

Regarding your other point, I think it was clear from the UI of the phone call that a voice chat icon will appear when video chat is available and you can switch to it at any point.

You're absolutely right, but I think video calling is actually very tightly targeted. If you watch Apple's launch video, it's all about family members who love each other but are separated. (Eg. it's not 20-somethings video calling each other to find out where tonight's party is..) And on that admittedly narrow front I think it'll be a smash hit. Right now when my wife or I are away from home, we record videos on our iphones of the other one with the kids (JUST like in their video) and have the kids say hi to the other parent.. and then email them to each other. :)

Edit: phrasing.

Exactly. The only time I have ever wanted to use video chat was to talk to my partner and kid whilst on the road. They nailed it, as usual.

Going by the comment on "working with carriers", I believe folks in Europe will be able to video chat over 3G in the not-too-distant future.

No, you don't get it. Folks in Europe have been able to videochat since the first UMTS phones came out.

I'm sure you have. I was just referring to the iPhone 4's video chat. Carriers will determine when it will work over 3G. I expect European carriers will take the lead as they did with the tethering.

  Except you have to call first to verify that
  whoever you are calling is on wifi.

My guess is that you won't need to do that: if both sides are using Face Time capable devices and are on WiFi they will get videochat option, if not — it will be deactivated.

  In Europe where wifi is something you have to search for and 3G
  is something which is everywhere, this renders the feature
  absolutely useless.

Nobody has Wi-Fi in their homes and offices? Must be some different Europe from where I am. Sure people do have computers with Skype installed at those places, but iPhone video chat will give much more flexibility. It would be pretty tough to show "look what my cat is doing!" using iMac or even Macbook compared to just switching to rear facing camera and pointing it at the cat.

On the other hand you'll have to hold the camera in front of you for an hour instead of just looking into the camera of your laptop ;)

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