Smile, You're On IPad Video Conference?

It seems that the Mac technical wizards at MacRumors have unveiled some pretty handy, yet unconfirmed, features of future iPads and iPhones including video conferencing via a front-facing camera.

Those clever little buggers did some digging through the Beta 3 iPad SDK and found evidence that there is support, at least in the SDK for a front camera with both flash and zoom capabilities. It would certainly be a cool feature but it doesn't necessarily it will show up any time soon.

However, with the software in place perhaps hardware add-ons will appear. Apple is already showing off a keyboard dock and a Camera Connection Kit (CCK). Don't get excited, that CCK is just a couple of memory card readers it seems. But with input functionality both keyboard and data input, it's entirely possible that the data channel could be adapted to video chat usage no?

Honestly, I'm no Mac power user. In fact all I use from them is the iPhone and I barely ever make calls on it, it's mostly SMS and a gaming device for GDN. I have no idea what the real capabilities of the Apple Connector Socket actually are so I'm just spitballin' here (when was the last time you heard that phrase?).

The Examiner has pointed out that there is an "unexplained slot that happens to be a perfect fit for the iSight add-on cameras." Well done!

So, now we have a potential hardware location and software support. Now all we need is someone to get it all together and see what happens. Of course the iPad is still lacking in some essentials (that we've gone over already so no need to talk about again) but a video conferencing system could certainly help bolster its light feature list.

What this could also mean, for the ReelSEO crowd, is a quick way to create videos for YouTube upload straight from the iPad no matter where you are. With video camera capabilities you could use your iPad to do anything from report live from the scene of some interesting event to just simply doing some Life-streaming (you had better have a damned interesting life if you go that route!). It could also mean some very cool real-time altered-reality games and other applications.

Would you like to video conference with ReelSEO via your iPad?

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