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Facetime was supposed to be a cross platform protocol. Remember? The reason it's marginally used now is because it's restricted to iOS devices. This feature wil

Facetime was supposed to be a cross platform protocol. Remember? The reason it's marginally used now is because it's restricted to iOS devices. This feature will be equally marginal. Complaining about an MG headline being sensationalized is redundant but this one is way out there. Apple has stuck zero daggers into anything. This is just a nice iOS to iOS messenger app. You could say the same thing about GTalk, Kik, Whatsapp, heck... even BlackBerry messenger. None have replaced SMS and none have any pointy objects covered in blood.

billpaetzke 15y ago
Facetime needs two years to get going. It's been on iPhone4, Mac, and iPad2 for 11, 5, and 3 months respectively. Once iPhone 3G/3GS and iPad1 users get new devices and Mac users buy/upgrade to Lion, FaceTime will be available to a lot more people. So, after this holiday season, I would expect FaceTime to be a much bigger deal. iMessages can hit the ground running from day one, since it is available down to iPhone 3GS and does not need new hardware. Also, Apple merged it with the existing Messages app, so I assume it will decide whether to SMS someone or iMessage someone for you. It's a win for iOS users either way.
- bergie 15y ago
  It is a win for iOS users who only deal with other iOS users. Out of the people I've SMSd or IMd in last week maybe about 10% have an iDevice. And many of those have iPads that they don't always carry with them.
  - phlux 15y ago
    >It is a win for iOS users who only deal with other iOS users. It is a win for fanboi hipsters. FTFY
  - burke 15y ago
    > It is a win for iOS users who only deal with other iOS users. No, it is a win for iOS users who deal with /any/ other iOS users. I would imagine that's most of them.
- nicksergeant 15y ago
  The availability of devices aren't the problem, it's the WiFi-only problem. The times I'd like to "FaceTime" with people the most are times I'm not on WiFi.

billpaetzke 15y ago

Facetime needs two years to get going. It's been on iPhone4, Mac, and iPad2 for 11, 5, and 3 months respectively. Once iPhone 3G/3GS and iPad1 users get new devices and Mac users buy/upgrade to Lion, FaceTime will be available to a lot more people. So, after this holiday season, I would expect FaceTime to be a much bigger deal. iMessages can hit the ground running from day one, since it is available down to iPhone 3GS and does not need new hardware. Also, Apple merged it with the existing Messages app, so I assume it will decide whether to SMS someone or iMessage someone for you. It's a win for iOS users either way.

bergie 15y ago
It is a win for iOS users who only deal with other iOS users. Out of the people I've SMSd or IMd in last week maybe about 10% have an iDevice. And many of those have iPads that they don't always carry with them.
- phlux 15y ago
  >It is a win for iOS users who only deal with other iOS users. It is a win for fanboi hipsters. FTFY
- burke 15y ago
  > It is a win for iOS users who only deal with other iOS users. No, it is a win for iOS users who deal with /any/ other iOS users. I would imagine that's most of them.
nicksergeant 15y ago
The availability of devices aren't the problem, it's the WiFi-only problem. The times I'd like to "FaceTime" with people the most are times I'm not on WiFi.