Live Video Streaming from Cingular/AT&T

One of the cooler technologies on display at CES that I don't think go much play is Cingular/AT&T's live cellphone streaming service, which is due to launch some time before the summer on certain 3G (HSDPA-enabled) phones. It is, apparently, the first phone-to-phone live videoconferencing service to hit the United States.

Now, before you start fantasizing about some kind of Dick-Tracy-style portable videoconferencing (which is pretty much already doable on 3G and/or WiFi-enabled smart phones), you should know that it's just one-way video and two-way voice. In other words, both callers see the same video image, but they can communicate with each other via voice in real-time.

So the real fun comes when you see some attractive person on the bus or at the mall, let's say, or some silly cat rescue scenario as you're walking down the street. You would set your phone's camcorder running on the person or scene, then invite your friend to get on the session with you (using a simple onscreen menu). Your friend would then get a video conferencing notification/invitation, accept it, and presto: You're both commenting on the ensuing action (or people) in real-time.

I got to see the service at CES (see pictures) and was impressed, mainly because, unlike current smart phone options, the Cingular/AT&T service seems like an an easy way to get live videoconferencing up and running on a consumer handset. And the only way this kind of service is going to get popular is if it's easy to use. Video quality when I was demo-ing the service seemed clear and chop-free.

Meanwhile, Apple says its iPhone will be able to do iChat videoconferencing to any Mac computer, presumably through WiFi, so it looks like 2007 may turn out to be the year of mobile videoconferencing.

Would you communicate with anyone using this new service, or any other mobile videoconferencing service?