Mobile Video Calling -- Now Reality for the First Time in the U.S.: A Picture May Be Worth a Thousand Words, But Being There is Priceless!

I have frequently blogged about the promise of mobile video calling -- not only one-to-one video calling, but the power of "see what I'm seeing" from anywhere, and anytime.

Well, this is no longer fiction here in the U.S., as AT&T -- in a major strategic initiative announced yesterday by Randall Stephenson, AT&T's new CEO -- is rolling out a new consumer-focused wireless service dubbed "Video Share" which enables just that -- i.e., live video streaming from cellphone to cellphone. AT&T -- which is the first carrier in the States to offer such a service -- fully touts the power that only video can bring in its messaging for this new service. As an example, imagine grandparents watching the first steps of their grandkids. The possibilities are endless ...

And, although AT&T is first rolling out its new Video Share service to consumers for just such personal and spontaneous moments (in limited markets at first and with monthly plans of $4.99 to $9.99), AT&T also anticipates -- as do I -- that mobile video calling will become an invaluable tool for the business market. Imagine real-estate brokers who want to show off a property on the fly. Again, the possibilities here are endless ...

Although, to date, mobile video calling has not taken off in Europe, AT&T and all other major carriers are increasingly bullish on the possibilities. First, initial initiatives in Europe suffered from limited handset availability and high pricing. Second, consumers and business users are increasingly comfortable paying for value-added services such as mobile photo-sharing. Third, cellphone cameras and screen quality continue to improve. Fourth, carriers are becoming increasingly competitive about the quality of their broadband networks -- and video offers a uniquely powerful testimonial in this regard (and certainly also holds tremendous marketing sex appeal ... never discount the importance of this factor). And fifth, AT&T, and other carriers, look to extend these services -- and interoperability of them -- to the PC and television screens.

In other words, AT&T's announcement is a big deal and is a harbinger of things to come -- as underscored by the fact that AT&T's CEO announced the initiative himself.

Although AT&T indicated that its new Video Share service will not be available on iPhones when they first launch next week, you can bet that that will change in the months ahead. The iPhone, of course, embeds a camera and Apple has long placed strategic importance in offering real-time video (albeit in a closed non-cross platform environment).

AT&T's marketing tag line says it all about the power that only video can bring -- "A pictures is worth a thousand words, but being there is priceless ..."