Tech Buzz

A Glance At AT&T’s Video Share Service

The cell phone has really come of age, thanks to high-tech features such as streaming audio, mp3 players, and state-of-the-art videocams. Increasingly, a cell phone is not seen as merely a communications device, but as an entertainment device as well. With a highly stylish cell phone in your pocket or purse, you can literally have the world of entertainment at your fingertips.Given the public appetite for increasingly stylized cell phone products, it should come as no surprise that a venerable telephone giant such as AT&T is unveiling a new round of high technology.

Recently, AT&T—a name that is synonymous with communications—entered the video revolution with a product known as Video Share. This product, which is now available in an impressive 160 markets, permits cell phone users to swap live one-way video and two-way audio.

Of course, to work effectively, both phone users must use the Video Share service. But with so many consumers opting for friends and family call sharing plans, many may jump at the chance to sign up for Video Share. Interestingly enough, with Video Share, once one person has placed a call, either that person or the person on the other end can be the one generating the video stream.

The possibilities for Video Share are virtually endless. For instance, new parents can transmit video of a newborn baby boy or girl to a friend or relative. Or someone with a DVD player to sell can transmit video of it to someone in the market to buy.

Video Share is made possible through AT&T’s 3G wireless network. The technology also represents a foray into the world of the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem, or IMS, platform. Through this platform, AT&T clients will be able to access a variety of content through both wireless and wireline connections.

In order to use Video Share, you have to have a compatible handset. The cost of the service is less than $5 a month for 25 minutes of Video Share or less than $10 per month for an hour’s worth of usage. Customers may also select to pay 35 cents a minute each time they use Video Share. However, it’s important to note that Video Share minutes are only assessed to the sender.

Video Share may, in fact, represent the technological wave of the future. Indeed, the days of picture phones have finally arrived—much to the delight of the Millennial generation.