Video E-mail to Replace Regular E-mail?

When Apple ships nearly all of its notebook PCs with a small video camera built right into the screen, you know that e-mail messages will eventually become old school, and video e-mail isn't far behind.

I was trolling around today and read about a site that's doing exactly this. Here's an example. SightSpeed. You have to give this guy credit for coolness - he recorded this at 30,000 feet.

I'm not convinced yet whether if, how, or when this will catch on. I mean, he could have easily said this quicker and faster in a text e-mail. Sure, the visual and audio cues are more powerful than text, but if you had 40 of these in your in-box in the morning, you'd need an entire extra morning just to get through your video-mail. And until you can play a video right in your in-box, your viewers are going to have to wait for a web browser to load up. (Yawn.)

I say the jury's still out on this one, but it's something I'm paying attention to. What do you think?

Comments

[Fran Hess]

think Utube, how many people spend how many hours happily watching inane clips. Make the videos fun, interesting or emotionaly engaging and some people will be hooked.

[Lorna]

I think there is something covert about e-mail and text messaging that cannot be achieved via video. You read it at your own pace, and you don't need audio. My personal belief is that the written message (e-mail and text messaging) is here to stay for a while.