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Before the 3G services got launched in the country, there was lot of talk about the idea of video calling. Some of the best TV advertisements for 3G services were those that dwelled on about video calling. From telecom operators, to regulators and analysts, everyone was sure that the entire nation would indulge in an orgy of video calling once the 3G services got started. Nothing like that seems to have happened. 3G services are here, yet the conversations are mostly voice based.
In fact, a large number of 3G enabled handsets that have been launched in the country during the last few months do not even have the capability of facilitating video calling. Not just the low-end brands, even the reputed international brands lack this feature. Case in point is the fact that the two top selling 3G phones from Sony Ericsson, the Xperia Arc and Xperia Play are not automatically enabled for video calling. The Xperia Arc does not even have any front camera, without which video calling is impossible. The Play does, but it can only be used for taking self-portraits. In order to conduct video calling with the Play, you have to download an app from the Android market place.
The 3G phones from HTC, which do not have a front facing camera include popular names like HTC Desire HD, HD7, Mozart and HTC Desire Z. In case of Motorola we have the Charm, Quench XT5 502, Defy and Milestone XT800. Even Acer Liquid Metal and Dell Venue lack a secondary camera. Nokia has large number of 3G phones that facilitate video calling. These include - C7, N8, E7 and others. But we need to keep in mind that the handset sales are not linked to their having or not having the video calling feature, their sales are linked to entirely different set of features.
Perhaps the handset makers understand better than the operators that users are not yet looking for the video calling features. Data still costs a lot of money in this country, so the video calling rates turn out to be prohibitingly high for most users. This problem of high video call rates is not limited to Indian market only, even internationally the rates turn out to be really high and that is why there are very few takers of this service wherever you go. Ultimately the handset makers have lost interest in coming up with devices geared to facilitating video calling.
The thing is that while making an average video call, you have to pay not only for the voice call, but also for the data transfer, and this makes the final cost too high. Unless the price of the video calls come down, there are going to be very few takers of the service. Now the operators have started wooing the customers by offering a different set of tariffs, which do not include extra data charges for use of video calling feature. Perhaps, natural laws of competition and new advances in technology will drive down costs further in times to come, and then this mode of communication will become popular.
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