Will Apple plunge into the VoIP pool?
When Apple Computer Inc first introduced digital music palyer and companion iTunes music software, it created a legitimate market for music downloads and solved a problem vexing the technology industry. Nearly five years later, analysts anticipate Apple will deliver a product to solve the entertainment industry’s current dilemma: how to bridge the gap between the living room television and the computer.
Analysts speculated that Apple may stream movie videos directly on to television sets, or connect Apple’s smallest desktop computer, the MacMini, to the TV with a more user-friendly interface, or use an upgraded video iPod to make the link.
Apple is introducing new technologies…OK. But we, as VoIP adorers, are waiting with baited breath when apple explores this market.
Recently every other industry heavyweights is being swept with the VoIP craze. Just this month, Microsoft added VoIP features to Windows Live Messenger, which will be available to users of its forthcoming Vista operating system. Meanwhile, last year Google released Google Talk, a similar software-based service.
So, for those who are waiting for VoIP news from Apple, insiders say that Software engineers at Apple Computer have been toiling away on a new set of features that will allow users of its next-generation Mac OS X operating system to place phone calls over their Internet connection. Apple is expected to bundle iChat 4.0 with the operating system overhaul, code-named Leopard and VoIP Internet dialing may just be one of several new features in it. This move will pit the Apple-branded video conferencing and instant message software against existing VoIP solutions from the likes of Skype, Google and Microsoft.