TORONTO - Don't be surprised if you start seeing people walking around holding their cellphones out in front of them, talking to the screen, perhaps bumping into things along the way.
With a new service launched Monday by Rogers Wireless Inc., cellphone users will for the first time in North America be able to use video calling on their handsets, allowing them to see and hear the person they're talking to in real-time via webcam.
To see each other, callers at both ends of the conversation have to use the Rogers Vision Samsung A706 handset model.
The webcam is set up so that users have to face the screen and talk over a speakerphone, which could give quiet businesses like bookstores and restaurants that already despise voice-only cellphones another reason to grumble. Users can also click a button to activate a camera on the opposite side of the phone to show the person on the other end of the line what they're seeing.
The phones also offer high-speed Internet and multimedia services, including mobile television and downloadable radio and video-on-demand clips from sources like YouTube.com, XM Satellite and Rogers MusicStore.
The video-calling service was described by Rogers as "a landmark in wireless communications,'' and even drew Canadian actor William Shatner to promote its launch at a news conference in Toronto.
But it wasn't drawing much excitement from one industry expert, who questioned its practicality and wondered why those doing video calling with affordable webcams on PCs would make the switch.
"In research that we did in the latter half of 2006, we found that about 11 per cent of Canadian online users were doing video calling from (PCs),'' said Tony Olvet of technology consultancy IDC Canada Ltd.
"So that's in kind of an ideal environment where you have a decent (web)cam and you have that kind of fairly stable connection. So when you convert that to the mobile or wireless space, you're naturally going to see a dropoff not only in terms of adoption because of the handset issue ... but also (because of) the data charges to run that call over the HSDPA network.''
HSDPA stands for High Speed Downlink Packet Access, which is the latest evolution of Rogers' GSM cellular network.
Rogers is charging $99.99 for the Samsung A706 with a three-year term on its Vision price plan. The wireless video costs 25 cents per minute in addition to standard voice plans. Alternatively, users can buy a video calling plan that costs $5 per month and includes 50 minutes of video calling time.
The price point might deter some people from adopting the technology, said Olvet, since carrying on a smooth conversation when first using the webcam could prove tricky.
"There's a lot of, I guess, reticence among consumers to try new data services without really understanding what it's going to mean for them at the end of the month when they look at their bill,'' said Olvet.
Another issue that could slow adoption of the technology is its limited availability. The Rogers Vision service is only offered in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe region, from Oshawa to Niagara Falls, including the Greater Toronto Area. The company says it plans to extend the service to major markets across the country throughout 2007.
Still, Monday's launch was an important way for wireless subscribers to see "the art of what's possible,'' said Olvet.
Rogers Wireless, which also operates the Fido brand, is Canada's largest wireless voice and data communications services provider with more than 6.8 million customers. It's a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX: RCI.B).
