Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/08/04/who_cares_about_videoconferencing/

Who cares about video-conferencing?

Survey says: no one

By Lucy Sherriff

Posted in On-Prem, 4th August 1999 11:18 GMT

Videoconferencing is set to simmer on the back burner for some time yet because it is not viewed as essential to business productivity. It is also seen as the preserve of the corporate elite, according to a survey conducted by Cahners In Stat Group (CIG). The rest of the mobile data market has entered a growth period, the company says, thanks to wider availability of laptops and the removal of traditional barriers to access such as performance, coverage and cost. CIG surveyed nearly 500 senior executives from a variety of company sizes and industries. It found email access, Web browsing and Web clipping are the key applications driving the growth of mobile access. Push content services will not fare so well. As many as 90 per cent of respondents expressed a high level of interest in wireless email services, and 80 per cent in wireless Web browsing. However, speed of access could prove a stumbling block. Over three quarters of those surveyed wanted wireless access speeds equal to or faster than those of fixed-line services. Fewer than 40 per cent indicated any interest in video-conferencing or CD quality music applications in next generation wireless equipment. Rebecca Diercks, a director at CIG, said: "Video-conferencing will not develop into a mainstream portable application until it becomes more prevalent in wireline devices." ®