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Mobile Video Chatting - Adoption Stalled by Proprietary Software

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

The mobile industry has changed significantly since the first bag phones emerged on the market. A platform that once only allowed simple phone calls is now expanding according to market demand. What is the most recent demand? Mobile video chatting.

According to this Information Week report, Qik (News - Alert) updated its video chatting application for the Android platform last month. Prior to this update, Qik would only work on select networks and between select devices. This limitation definitely hindered the update of this mobile video platform. With the new version in place, just about any Android device will conduct live, two-way video chats with other Android devices and even the Apple iPhone.

Qik is now owned by Skype (News - Alert), which shouldn’t surprise anyone in the telecommunications space. What may be surprising, however, is that Skype still has its own, separate software platform for video chatting. This platform will work with Android (News - Alert) and iPhone devices, as well as Windows and Apple computers.

Apple has offered mobile video on its platform, allowing the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to conduct FaceTime chats, but only with other iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches and Apple computers and only when the iOS device was connected to WiFi. Qik takes it another step further by allowing mobile video chatting across 3G, 4G and WiFi networks.

Google tried to get in the mobile video chatting game when it created an application for Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Of course, this platform only works between Honeycomb devices, but a report recently surfaced that suggests Google is ready to release a native mobile video chatting application for all Android devices.

Mobile video chatting is also possible between Android devices via 3G, 4G and WiFi with a service known as ooVoo (News - Alert). The platform offers desktop software and promises that Apple iOS support is on the way.

The final major player in the mobile video chatting space is Fring. This company offers video chatting, group video chatting, IM and other features for Android, iOS and Symbian devices. The mobile video chats can take place over 3G, 4G and WiFi.

While all of these players do offer great services, their limitation is that they all require users to have the same software. While companies may see this as a way to capture a larger share of the market and capitalize on proprietary platforms, we are seeing time and again that consumers aren’t buying into that strategy like they used to. Keep in mind that there is a reason why we wanted Verizon (News - Alert) to get the iPhone.

That leaves questions – what is the best approach to leverage a common platform for mobile video chatting? Should it go the way of open source? Should all players allow for all platforms to work with their service? Can they afford the development costs to make this happen? If providers want to realize the potential opportunities in the market, mainstreaming will demand use across all platforms, and those not willing to play will likely have to find another avenue for revenue.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca