Too bad Apple never kept the promise of opening up FaceTime for the world. I and other professionals I know are using the technology (audio and video) in business.
There’s an opportunity for business level functionality if the technology was opened up. Apple needs to rely on all computers — Window PCs included — to support the software in order for it to really become the revolutionary offering Apple has made it out to be.
The tech that FaceTime is built on is a collection of open source and licensed tech that Apple does a great job of tying together. All Apple really has to do is to release their code and any licensing dependancies and let the third parties work out any licensing issues — if they have any.
And speaking of FaceTime, why doesn’t Apple use it to offer live support? I’d love to see an Amazon Fire-like feature where you can get live support complete with remote control and administration. That would be extremely useful on a practical level for macOS/iOS/iPadOS/watchOS/tvOS device users and a great public relations move for Apple.
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Have a great weekend.
This article doesn’t answer its headline. The answer is VirnetX sued Apple in 2010 over patent infringement related to FaceTime, which forced Apple to renege on its commitment to open source the protocol, and break FaceTime’s P2P functionality and route all calls through central servers. The lawsuit drags on to this day.