Over the holiday weekend I was on the Oregon coast with my in-laws – it was a great time and a great fireworks show – one thing that happened right away is the my Wife started showing off her iPhone 4. She immediately started by showing off FaceTime – interestingly enough this was the feature that I show off last (have you see the text on the iPhone 4?).
Much to my surprise everyone seemed enamored with FaceTime, even though they all use Skype to video chat with people right now. To most in the room FaceTime became the reason to get an iPhone. Upon thinking about it now I realize just how ‘futuristic’ having video chat on a mobile device really is – much more so than doing it on your laptop.
Of course as the weekend progressed we saw at least five commercials for FaceTime / iPhone 4 on TV and it always brought up more questions and the inevitable “I gotta get one” comment. Amazingly I think FaceTime is what is going to sell the iPhone 4.
It is not just going to sell the iPhone 4 because FaceTime is so new, or that it will soon be coming to other devices – it is going to sell the iPhone 4 because of the ease that it does video calls. Skype is a completely different interface and because of that it is not as easy for parents and grandparents to initiate a Skype call. They usually need their grandkids or kids to set it up for them – and show them how to use it.
Enter FaceTime – parents and grandparents that would love to video chat now can do it easily, all they have to do is buy the phone for the people they want to chat with. There is the key, the demographic that holds the most amount of money now has been given a reason to buy an iPhone.
Boom.