The general theme of this video calling reinvention is failed technology of the past (videoconferencing) finding success today (video calling and telepresence). Compare netbooks and iPads to their ancestors of the past as another current example.
Want to predict the future of technology? Look at today’s technology that doesn’t succeed, and consider whether it would succeed in the future as we pass new inflections points in networks, chips and processing. Easier said than done – not sure many folks struggled to setup videoconferencing over ISDN years ago and could have made the leap to the telepresence systems of today – but today’s failures are tomorrow’s successes.
Video calling and telepresence is a great example. Look at how consumer video calling is heating up. MG Siegler writes that Google’s rumored +1 social service will include videoconferencing services. Skype is already a leader and will likely make interesting announcements leading up to their IPO. Cisco is also playing, with a recently announced retail telepresence product, Umi.
Enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence is also hot, after it was left for dead. Like Apple in retail, Cisco is using their marketing muscle to reinvent a market segment, instigating the enterprise video calling reinvention with their immersive telepresence products.
Soon mobile videoconferencing will join the party, and mobile, retail and enteprise videoconferencing and video calling spaces will overlap and conflict. But more on that and on videoconferencing and telepresence in future posts (my job is building telepresence services).
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