IPhone + IChat makes IVRS

Apple's next big thing? Video, analyst says "Apple is ready to make a major move into video, and based his bet on a series of clues in the company's upcoming hardware, as well as the $1 billion data center in North Carolina that's now hiring personnel." (ComputerWorld)

This makes perfect sense. Recently, we got a sneak peek of what the upcoming IPhone 4g will look like. It had not only HD video capability, but also a front-facing camera. It will easily be able to do iChat (video conferencing).

So with the new upcoming IPhone and the data center getting ready for business soon, it is only natural to anticipate one of the VRS provider to come up with an app that'll alow you to do VRS through your iPhone. It is pretty exciting!

SorensonVRS has an app where you can watch your SignMail on your iPhone for free. Convo has their Greenbook and ConvoIM for Mac. Purple has their PurpleVRSim for iChat. There are others I am sure.

Now the question is who is going to be first ??? Any ideas???

iPhone may be the first to have Video Relay Services (VRS)!!!!!

"As they do with any major new iPhone OS release, people have been tearing apart the iPhone OS 4.0 SDK from the very second it was available. Almost immediately, someone noticed that bits and pieces of iChat had found their way into the new software." (Link).

The reason why this is a big deal is because 4g is coming out. Technically, it is already here. Sprint have started implementing it across USA and Tmobile, Verizon, and ATT is likely to start in 2011. 

Currently our phones and smartphones are using 3g standards. It allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and offers data rates of about 10 mbps download and 5 mbps upload. In other words, it'll take an hour to download a DVD movie. 4G will be 10x faster. That means it'll take less than 10 minutes to download a DVD movie. That's fast. Fast enough to do videoconferencing. :)

Anyway, it looks like the people from Apple may be preparing for the new technology. But then I do wonder about Sprint's HTC EVO 4G coming out this summer. It is supposed to be the best of all smartphones. Not only the specs are far beyond any other smartphones and it'll work with 4g, but it'll also come with a camera on each side. That'll make videoconferencing very possible. 

Is iPhone gonna be the first? Will Sprint be the first? What do you think?