Video Chat, Coming to a Phone Near You?

Much media attention (well at least in the tech world) has recently surfaced in regards to a front-facing camera, or lack thereof, on the iPhone 3GS. The debates that follow bring up a good question. Is video chatting on our phones, like in those classic sci-fi movies, coming in the near future, or is it a niche market never to see mainstream use?

Initially, I thought, sure. Of course it will be adopted. I mean, why wouldn't it be? New technologies are often adopted, and video streaming capabilities and corresponding compression codecs are constantly being improved. Yet the resounding question still remains... would I use it?

iChat, a video chat messaging client provided on all Mac's for quite a few year now, has yet to truly take over communication in computing. I have iChat and Skype, I've used video chats before, yet honestly, there seem to be far more instances in which I would rather not use it than use it.

Of course I would love those face to face conversations with loved ones and friends, but on the phone with the At&t guy?! When I'm in my underwear? After I just woke up? Etc. The list of circumstances in which I would prefer not to use it are obviously quite large.. thus reiterating that resounding question... would I use it?

If it were to become commonplace, would we not feel as though we had to use it, even if we wished we didn't have to?

As technology progresses, it seems that most people are gravitating towards efficiency. Widespread tweets to all your friends about something or another. Sure individual phone calls or made, yet even those are being replaced by quicker, more efficient texts.

I'll be honest, I would much rather e-mail one of my professors than speak to them face to face. And definitely much more than talking to them on the phone!

So would this technology be adopted?.... hmmm...

After much thinking, I feel as though it is not on the immediate horizon. I do imagine it will eventually be adopted, yet possibly in a manner different than the one-on-one conversations we are expectant of. Instead I would imagine it would be used in large scale conference situations in which "real-time" interaction is optimal. I could see such technology being incorporated into a real-time chat medium in social networking utilities such a facebook.

Regardless, I think the technology is coming... and will come... but in the next iPhone iteration? Probably not. Do we have the technology? Well... yes... (providing At&t's network was as stable as Verizon's).. but do we have the medium from which to use it as efficiently as we oh-so-desire? No... not yet anyway...