AT&T Debuts 3G Videophone Service

AT&T Debuts 3G Videophone Service
Transmitting live video on her cell phone, the real estate agent entices the prospective but distant buyer with a quick, walking tour of a house that just hit the market. This kind of interaction could become commonplace if the first-ever service in the U.S. to allow live video during a voice call, AT&T Video Share, becomes popular.

Announced Tuesday, the service enables a one-way, live video stream, seen by both callers as they talk in a two-way voice conversation. The stream can be initiated by either caller, and can be switched for transmission from the other caller during the conversation.

Immediate Access Limited

The phone giant said that its research indicated consumers are interested in using the service for sharing experiences, for showing friends or business contacts something happening elsewhere, for getting opinions or decisions, or for simply showing one caller's expressions.

Video Share works on AT&T's 3G wireless network, and is now available only in Atlanta, Dallas, and San Antonio. Expansion to the rest of the network, which covers more than 160 markets in the U.S., will begin in late July. AT&T said this was its first service delivered on its Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem-based, new-generation network platform.

Currently, eligible handsets include the Samsung A717, the Samsung Sync, and the LG CU500v.

The company has big plans for the service. "Imagine watching television," said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in a statement, "when a notice pops on the screen that a daughter or granddaughter would like to initiate a Video Share call, then immediately switching the television screen to accept the video and audio." There are also plans to extend the service to PCs.

Long-Awaited Videophone?

Video Share could be the first step in the videophone we've been hearing about for decades, said IDC analyst Chris Hazelton. "Often," he said, "you're on the phone talking to someone because you see something interesting." Video Share could support those moments.

The drawback, he pointed out, is that your conversational partner has to have the right kind of phone, have the Video Share service, and be within AT&T's 3G network coverage. But this limited population is helpful to the service right now, Hazelton noted, because the current networks aren't yet able "to support large numbers" of video phone calls.

He said he wasn't aware of any such services in the rest of the world, but that "you'll see competitors" at some not-too-distant point.

AT&T is offering two service packages, either $4.99 monthly for 25 minutes or $9.99 for 60 minutes. For those who want to pay only for what they use, on-the-fly minutes can be bought at 35 cents each.

source : news.yahoo.com