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Scott Wharton, Vice President of Marketing at BroadSoft posted an interesting article titled "Is Video Calling Ready for Prime Time?" on the IP Business site.

Is video calling about to take off? Many of us who have been in the industry for a while, have seen repeated false predictions and product launches related to video calling. Scott argues that advances in related hardware, software, available bandwidth, reduced bandwidth requirements and rapidly decreasing costs have removed all of the tangible inhibitors to mass adoption.

I agree with that part of his assessment. However, I'm still not convinced that there is, or will be any time soon, a compelling market demand. On this point, Scott argues that video calling, like other technology trends, will first be adopted by tech-friendly users that will eventually lead to mass adoption.

It is true that many technologies are often first adopted by a particular demographic and later become mainstream. But when it comes to video calling, I wonder if there's some cultural or human behaviour element that will continue to thwart the acceptance of video calling. I don't quite know how to define the characteristic, but it seems that people feel somewhat awkward and uncomfortable when they are in front of a camera. For that reason, I am not expecting any dramatic change in video calling market penetration.

I strive to correctly perceive market and technology trends and I know how important it is to consider other's views. Therefore I welcome your opinion on this subject. Are the factors that Scott lists sufficient to help overcome whatever obstacles have prevented mass adoption to date?

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