The who question of 4g and video on handhelds has been boucing around on several blogs the last week or so. I can't begin to cite all the people and posts in the conversation, but I'm going to touch on three.

Luca Filigheddu probably started thing rolling with  Why 3G video calls are useless on Tuesday. He starts sharing some thoughts he's been exchanging with Jeff Pulver. Jeff is really focused on IPTV above other things, but Jeff responded to  the issue of Why 3G Video Calls are Useful: a couple of days ago.

Luca's in a region of the world where 3G is available and doesn't see a  marker for realtime streaming video calls between people.  He cites Mauro Sentinelli  and seems to feel "it's one of the services that you don't really need since it doesn't really solve a particular need."

Jeff cites a freinds decription of a video call with his young son. Jeff's response is to question what more is needed to make it useful.

Peter Csathy from SightSpeed chimed in with Mobile Video Calling Will be Big Business Indeed! on Friday  Mobile Video Calling Part II -- See & "Share" What I'm Seeing this morning. Peter is right on top of video from a very different view that Jeff Pulver.

I side with Peter and Jeff, while trying to recognize we don't really have 3G anywhere here in the states to prove or disprove our theories. But I'll substantiate mine to some degree.

We're in the throes of pretty significant technology evolution on the Internet. Bandwidth is increasing. Mobility and ubiquity are two key factors that shape how we work. Mobility lets us work anywhere, but it's really about handheld more than anything. Mobility working on the train or plane is different than the mobility required to successfully hand off calls from cell to cell. Ubiquity on the other hand is about being able to connect wherever I am. I want to be able to open my laptop or take out my handheld and connect no matter where I'm standing at any given moment. Tie bandwidth, mobility and ubiquity together and you the the concurrent evolution to 3G wireless and fixed moble convergence in a mashup whether you like it or not.

I don't care whether we call it 3G, 4G, EVDO-Rev A, UMA, Edge or something entirely different. What we're talking about is true broadband connectivity to a mobile device. Speeds in excess of the old and tired T1 circuit. Not the sickly DSL-like speeds we get with Verizon's EVDO service today. We are talking about the next generation - speed and ubiquity.

Video is a different experience that voice. Voice let's you hear the excitement or pain in my voice. Video, while it doesn't let you walk in my shoes, let's you see what I see, and see me in the setting I'm in.

Video enhances collaboartion in ways that are difficult to describe, but easy to understand. I was on a video call with Peter Csathy talking about this yesterday and realize I'd consciously made sure he could see my hand gestures on the camera. Because the hand gestures were part of the communications.  We needed a rich communications stream to have our conversation. More and more, all of us want and need that rich communications stream. That's why video calling is growing so rapidly.

Video enable sharing life moments. Mobile handheld devices enable sharing those life events in a way we haven't been able to in the past. I think of the camera addition to the cell phone. A bad idea if there ever was one really. Classic disruptive technology - deliver a lower qualtiy solution downstream of the leader, in a market that's unrelated. Well, disruption worked. Digital cameras are wonderful tools and toys, but if you're like me, most of the time yours is at home on the shelf when some unexpected life event occurs. What do you do? Whip out the cell phone and take a picture. We always have our cell phones.

We carry the tools we know we need for planned life events. Today is my grandson's birthday and we're going to have a party. I'll have my Nikon, my video camera and my laptop with webcam because this is a scheduled life event. It's planned. Unscheduled life events need tools that support impromtu response.

A baby's first steps, the sheer joy
An auto accident and the trauma involved
An award at school and the radiant face of a child
The surprise business meeting, just because we can.
The victory dance of a child after a soccer goal, touchdown or homerun.
The reporter on the scene and a hurricane, earthquake, fire, or other event.

I think that list is endless. Unexpected, unplanned life experiences and the communications tools to share them. The ability to share life events, as they unfold, not as YouTube fodder, but in real time, moving the camera from what I'm seeing, to my face, to what I'm seeing, while sharing the dialogue with the person I'm calling. Being able to let you "see what I'm seeing" while we talk is nothing short of revolutionary. It's unified communications at it's core.

Unified communications is a term that's bandied about a lot lately. I know I toss it out there all the time. To me, it's leveraging technology for the good of people. We talk about endpoints in networking technology. What the heck is an end point? Ask the phone people, they'll tell you it's the telephone. As the data people and they'll tell you it's servers and workstations. I say they're both wrong. The endpoints are mostly people. People who want to talk. People who want to do business. And people who wnat to share large and small life events, both planned and unplanned.

Anything that gives us as people, better ability to share who we are, where we are and what we're experiencing with other people is going to be a winning solution. I say 3G handheld video will change everything and we'll use it in ways we can't even imagine today. Bring it on.


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