Save for deaf people and gadget reviewers, few people want to see each other during phone calls on a regular basis. At the same time millions of people want to IM each other, but they haven't built that in yet.
If you've felt the kind of deep longing that sort of separation can cause, you'll immediately understand what Apple is selling here. A lifeline to the ones you love.
Believe me, at those moments there's not a chance you'd rather just be on IM.
Call me unmoved, and unexcited. Why is this important? We've been doing video conferencing for decades now.
You can also just download 'fring' for free on Android to get skype video calls. (You can even use it on 3G or whatever you feel like. Unlike Apple which restricts everything).
Only Apple can routinely release decades old technology and hail it as revolutionary, and seem to get away with it.
I can't really imagine wanting to video-call anyone while I'm out or without laptop/netbook.
Not really. I think most people would argue as social animals that being physically present at an event underlines the importance and respect for others. No one sane dials into someone's wedding or funeral right?
For me that's why only the opening sequence of the advert worked - keeping in visual contact with your child. The deaf conversation is thrown in as a calculated validation of the goodness of FaceTime, given this, what cold soul could not understand the importance of this technology?
I'm sure medical staff are buzzing with anticipation about their future arguments with hipsters trying to use their phones in scanning units where such devices are usually prohibited.
The advert is clever in that the only good uses bookend the less good ones. You can't blame them, because you hardly want to sell FaceTime as 'FaceTime: For when you can't be arsed to turn up'
As an international student in the US, I personally would enormously benefit from a cell phone that can do video conversations well. My family lives thousands of miles away, and seeing their faces is actually something I really value. We communicate via Skype constantly for the video functions, but this really limits the flexibility of where I can take the calls.
I am going to be working far away from my university, and I will be using video conference to talk to my girlfriend while I'm away. I am considering getting a pair of iPhones for the ease of use and convenience (she's not very tech savvy).
As to IMs, I personally am a heavy IM user, and there's a number of iPhone applications for IMing (Palringo, Beejive, Windows Live Messenger come to mind). I don't use it because it is just too bothersome to have extended conversations when typing with any small keyboard.
Of course, I'm not implying that just because I feel like this would anybody else do, but I don't think it's as crystal clear as the OP describes.
Even with the Face Time technical limitations, the lack of video calling isn't a technical problem but a social one. I've had a laptop with a webcam for 5 years and used video calling a handful of times with at least two of them being just to get screenshots for a book on OS X. It makes a great demo, but at the end of the day I almost always prefer text to audio and audio to video.
I’d say Facetime’s for the visual masses.
But, FaceTime could also work for the general public because up until now, video calling took effort and planning.
Even with Skype, both parties have to sign up for accounts, exchange screen names, make sure they have computers with a camera, speakers, and microphone. If you're really lucky, the computer will be a laptop. And both users have to be at their computers and signed into Skype to make the call, which means that in a lot of cases a video call ends up being coordinated over the phone beforehand.
FaceTime just requires that you know each other's phone numbers, (when the spec is released, I'm sure big, bright "FaceTime Compatible!" stickers will show up on lots of phones) and, for now, be on WiFi. "Upgrading" from a phone call to a video call is as simple as pressing a button. The "cost" to make a call is so much lower.
By the way, as I don't have iPhone4, I curious about this scenario, what will happen if I'm on FaceTime chat with someone, and another people call my number? Will the call go through and the FaceTime chat dropped?
It's supposed to "just work". In an iPhone review (at Ars? One of the big sites.) they tested this, and it worked fine for home use (home users usually do have a firewall...), it only choked, sometimes, on corporate firewalls.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4245
"To use FaceTime on a restricted Wi-Fi network, port forwarding must be enabled for ports 53, 80, 443, 4080, 5223, and 16393-16472 (UDP)"
Regardless, my point was that it would almost certainly not work on a military base. They have gone so far as to ban all camera phones in Iraq, real time video conferencing outside of the military's view is not going to be allowed in combat areas. It also wouldn't look to great over satellite.
FaceTime uses uPnP, which is supported on just about any router you'd buy for under $200 at your local retailer. If you're able to play XBox or PS3 online, your iPhone should connect a FaceTime call without trouble.