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That's already happened. When Apple introduced Lion, one of the things they mentioned was they'd ported FaceTime to the Mac. You get it preloaded with a new Mac

That's already happened. When Apple introduced Lion, one of the things they mentioned was they'd ported FaceTime to the Mac. You get it preloaded with a new Mac, or it's $0.99 in the Mac app store.

lurker19 15y ago
Mac is not a PC. Apple will hesitate a long while before bringing Facetime to the PC, because Facetime promotes all-important lock-in to the Apple ecosystem and sells Apple hardware.
- raganwald 15y ago
  I will bet a bottle of single malt that Apple will bring FaceTime to the PC. I agree that FaceTime sells Apple hardware, but I think the hardware they want to sell is the iOS product line. Weigh how many Mac sales the will lose if people can get FaceTime on a PC against how many iPhone and iPad sales they will make to people who can now chat with Grandma on her PC? Ubiquity on the desktop and exclusivity on the mobile device are wins for FaceTime just as they are wins for iTunes.
  - teyc 15y ago
    Exactly, especially if the PC Facetime is crippled so that it can only chat to iOS devices.
    - brettnak 15y ago
      I don't think they've ever done that before... why would the do that now?
      - teyc 15y ago
        You are quite right there. Windows environments are a haphazard mess of personal firewalls, routers. There is probably a reason why Jobs didn't want to go there. Having said that, Skype showed that they could make it work. Apple's valuation today is based on its growth trajectory. This means growing their customer base and engaging in hand-to-hand combat for existing PC users to move to the Apple platform. In some way, Apple's hands are forced.
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    Are we talking about the same company? The only time Apple ports their software to different environments is when they are in a position of weakness (like they were when they reluctantly put iTunes on Windows). I don't think a single Apple iOS app has made it's way to Android, or any new Mac software has been ported to Windows in recent years. You can accuse Microsoft of a lot of things, but they've always been willing to port their software when there is a buck to be made (they are a software company after all).
    - raganwald 15y ago
      I personally see porting something like iWork very differently than porting FaceTime. If they think porting FaceTime will help sell iOS devices, I think Apple will do it for the same reason they ported iTunes. Whereas porting iWork doesn't do anything for selling iOS devices. That being said, this is a guess and that's why I said I would bet on it. If I knew for sure, it would be unethical to bet on the outcome!
  - nikcub 15y ago
    For any communication tool to be successful it has to be cross-platform. You aren't going to use an application if you can only talk to people who are running the same app on the same OS as you That is why I agree that both Apple will eventually release FaceTime on Windows, and why Microsoft will do everything they can to keep Skype multiplatform
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

That's already happened. When Apple introduced Lion, one of the things they mentioned was they'd ported FaceTime to the Mac. You get it preloaded with a new Mac, or it's $0.99 in the Mac app store.

lurker19 15y ago

Mac is not a PC. Apple will hesitate a long while before bringing Facetime to the PC, because Facetime promotes all-important lock-in to the Apple ecosystem and sells Apple hardware.

raganwald 15y ago
I will bet a bottle of single malt that Apple will bring FaceTime to the PC. I agree that FaceTime sells Apple hardware, but I think the hardware they want to sell is the iOS product line. Weigh how many Mac sales the will lose if people can get FaceTime on a PC against how many iPhone and iPad sales they will make to people who can now chat with Grandma on her PC? Ubiquity on the desktop and exclusivity on the mobile device are wins for FaceTime just as they are wins for iTunes.
- teyc 15y ago
  Exactly, especially if the PC Facetime is crippled so that it can only chat to iOS devices.
  - brettnak 15y ago
    I don't think they've ever done that before... why would the do that now?
    - teyc 15y ago
      You are quite right there. Windows environments are a haphazard mess of personal firewalls, routers. There is probably a reason why Jobs didn't want to go there. Having said that, Skype showed that they could make it work. Apple's valuation today is based on its growth trajectory. This means growing their customer base and engaging in hand-to-hand combat for existing PC users to move to the Apple platform. In some way, Apple's hands are forced.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  Are we talking about the same company? The only time Apple ports their software to different environments is when they are in a position of weakness (like they were when they reluctantly put iTunes on Windows). I don't think a single Apple iOS app has made it's way to Android, or any new Mac software has been ported to Windows in recent years. You can accuse Microsoft of a lot of things, but they've always been willing to port their software when there is a buck to be made (they are a software company after all).
  - raganwald 15y ago
    I personally see porting something like iWork very differently than porting FaceTime. If they think porting FaceTime will help sell iOS devices, I think Apple will do it for the same reason they ported iTunes. Whereas porting iWork doesn't do anything for selling iOS devices. That being said, this is a guess and that's why I said I would bet on it. If I knew for sure, it would be unethical to bet on the outcome!
- nikcub 15y ago
  For any communication tool to be successful it has to be cross-platform. You aren't going to use an application if you can only talk to people who are running the same app on the same OS as you That is why I agree that both Apple will eventually release FaceTime on Windows, and why Microsoft will do everything they can to keep Skype multiplatform

deleted 15y ago

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