FaceTime Vs. VoiceTime

Am I the only wondering when Apple is going to unleash the real power of FaceTime by not implementing a new feature but actually giving users the option to choose between videoconferencing and voice calls?

Videoconferencing has been the holy grail of communications for a very long time until it was actually released and most people realized it was actually uncomfortable and awkward to broadcast their image.

Nevertheless, Apple managed to make Apple fans use their FaceTime product more than they had ever used any kind of videoconferencing software or device. One of the best features of FaceTime is that it uses data connectivity (originally wifi and now cellular as well) to establish a session, hence letting people communicate internationally for free.

The next best thing, in my opinion, will be when Apple decides to let users opt out of the video and and only use Voice (they should name this VoiceTime), therefore letting people call each other for free using internet connectivity.

Now, I see you wondering: this is not new, Skype did this years ago... Well yes and no... The genius idea behind FaceTime was to use one's cellular phone number as a FaceTime ID. In the same line of thinking, Apple could very well allow users to use their cellular phone number as an ID to make voice calls, effectively looping the loop by doing so: users will use their phone number to call other users' phone numbers but they will be bypassing cellular carriers' voice infrastructures and only be using data networks. I could very well see Apple becoming a data-only carrier and be a game changer in that area.

Now do you get it? VoIP calls using one's cellular phone number as their ID!

Uber-Communication

The rise of new technologies has lead to the advent of a new way of communicating.

Whenever someone sends me an email or leaves a message on my voicemail, I don't feel bound to answer them using the same means of communication they used to contact me. Answering a long voicemail can sometimes take a 10 second text message. Using Twitter to organize a dinner with friends can sometimes be much more convenient than email (that is when it comes to a dinner with tech-savvy friends of course).

Maybe new technologies have given us the opportunity to become lazy communicators in the sense that we now have a tendency to use the easiest way of communicating (not necessarily the most politically correct one) in a particular situation. However, the decrease in form has also given us the ability to interact a lot more and with many more people than before.

I can't even begin to think of what's going to come next in terms of communication as there are more and more options available... To name of few: Landline phone, cellular phone, email, text messaging, instant messaging (text, audio, video), Skype, VoIP, Web 2.0 social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Seesmic, Jaiku, Lindedin, MySpace, Orkut etc...).

Who could ever deny that what differentiates us from animals is language?