The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

Apple bringing FaceTime to iPad, iPod touch

By | July 16, 2010, 1:14am PDT

Summary: Regardless of all the iPhone 4 recall madness going on, there seems to be one feature that still has some users pleased: FaceTime. According to Boy Genius Report, it’s headed for the iPad and iPod touch. Wait, how?

Regardless of all the iPhone 4 recall madness going on, there seems to be one feature that still has some users pleased: FaceTime. According to Boy Genius Report, it’s headed for the iPad and iPod touch. Wait, how?

Obviously, both the iPad and iPod touch lack built-in cameras, and neither has a phone number attached to them. However, there have been plenty of rumors in the last six months about the iPod touch getting a digital camera, and a new iPod touch this fall seems likely to us.

But as for how to actually log on and make phone calls, BGR says all you need is an Apple ID, which will in turn register your device for FaceTime and use your e-mail address for phone calls. The push notification system will prove even more useful now as that will be how users are alerted to incoming calls. Looks like you’ll need at least iPhone OS 4.1 beta installed on your device as well.

As for the camera issue, it is still a gray area, but you could remedy this with a third-party digital camera attachment for now. It just won’t be easy and simple to tote everything around.

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Topics

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?
7
Comments

Join the conversation!

Just In

yep...
SonofaSailor 19th Jul 2010
and those were the same people that said "it doesn't need a camera or a usb port, it's perfect just how it is"
0 Votes
+ -
WTF?
trickytom2 16th Jul 2010
You're putting video chat on devices that have no camera?

I will be watching you during our chat, but you can't see me...how creepy is that?
0 Votes
+ -
It's their way of selling the next generation of product. The NEXT iPad and iPod will have cameras, and if people want to use the Facetime feature, they'll have to shell out $$ to buy those devices.

With the way Apple/Jobs have handled the current iPhone problems, I just can't see myself shelling out the money for anything else from them for a while until they can crank out some reliable stuff for a good period of time. I was one of those people who had one of the older G3 iBooks with the faulty logic boards that Apple denied was an issue for a long time until a TV show called them out on it - so this isn't the first time and yes, we remember.
0 Votes
+ -
Translation: You guys who bought an iPad, it's already almost obsolete.
0 Votes
+ -
yep...
SonofaSailor 19th Jul 2010
and those were the same people that said "it doesn't need a camera or a usb port, it's perfect just how it is"
0 Votes
+ -
Tote around???!?!!!!!!
Hameiri 16th Jul 2010
It only works on Wi-Fi, remember? I guess you could tote the camera from hotspot to hotspot.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple bringing FaceTime to iPad, iPod touch
jeff.fostermedia@... 16th Jul 2010
With the very tiny HD camera in iPhones could be made into an attachment with the device rotated for viewing. Apple has engineers who can make it look like built in feature.
0 Votes
+ -
@jeff.fostermedia@... But how would you connect it to the iTouch or iPad - is there a video camera connector somewhere (even though there's not even one USB jack)? Given Apple's track record, this sounds like a V2 feature making all the early adoptors want to scramble to give Steve even more of their money and scrap their V1 iPads.

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix