Tag: ichat

Two Apple product managers recently video conferenced while one of them was aboard an Airbus plane more than 35,000 feet in the air using iChat AV, iSight, a 17-inch PowerBook and an orbiting satellite.

Apple today released the final version of iChat AV 2.1, the update to its instant messaging application that adds support for video conferencing with the new AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows. The beta version of iChat AV 2.1 was posted for use on Feb. 5. The new software requires Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther).

Apple has quietly released the final version of iChat AV for Mac OS X Jaguar (10.2.5 or later). The software, which has been in beta version since it was announced in June, is now available from Apple for US$29.95. (iChat AV ships free with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther.) In addition to text instant messaging, iChat AV offers robust video and audio conferencing capabilities.

“Apple recently unveiled a clever program titled iChat AV, and even in its public beta form, it blows away the competition,” writes USA Today columnist Edward Baig. “iChat AV isn’t the first IM program to let you schmooze, see and hear online. But some earlier systems have been plagued with hard-to-figure settings and difficulties getting through security measures.

“During his keynote speech at an Apple developer conference, Jobs unveiled his company’s latest instant-messaging software, iChat AV, along with a nifty cylindrical webcam called iSight… it was by far the most intriguing thing Jobs talked about all morning,” writes Erick Schonfeld for Business 2.0. “The folks who should be the most worried about this development are the phone companies.