WebRTC, ORTC and OTT Comm

There’s a lot of noise and plenty of dust getting kicked up around WebRTC these days. Every hour it seems there is another company announcing support for WebRTC or have built an app that uses the technology. In many cases it’s an extension to the existing offer, where WebRTC is leveraged as a web-based SIP softphone for instance.

For the love of Pete, does the world need yet another phone?

What does excite me is when I start thinking about the effects that WebRTC and ORTC will have on rich media OTT (Over The Top) communications moving forward.

If we look at the success of apps like Whatsapp, Tango, Viber, Voxer, Facebook Messenger etc etc these are all OTT applications that have already won in mobile communications. Placing a phone call, is nearly the last thing a teen or twenty-something user is looking to do with their phone. Just by pure observation, we can see this demographic using mobiles devices for messaging and now video chat more and more. Btw, this is the generation that will be leading our Enterprise companies in the not so distant future.

We know this, but we still insist on integrating old tech that does not seem to be accelerating in growth. Why? To answer my own question, “because lots of us continue to buy VoIP phones and SIP PBXs for our business”. And to that I say, good for you! But that is not the real opportunity for those developers who embrace WebRTC and ORTC.

WebRTC & ORTC will allow us to push the envelope and do things we can’t do today. And to do things we can do today but in a much more efficient and enjoyable manner.  Maybe RTC will find its way into social news, citizen journalism, or maybe media rich banking, healthcare and CRM apps, in your TV, mobile devices, browsers et al. The possibilities are nearly endless but one thing is quite clear, it’s not going to happen unless we change our current approach.

In order for WebRTC to win, in mobile, web and server-side. We will need a JavaScript friendly object model, not an Offer/Answer model based on telecom of old.  Even if you don’t share the same opinion, you owe it to yourself to take a look at what’s happening in the W3C ORCA Community Group.  For me, (and a bunch of others) there lies the future of WebRTC.

/Erik

For disclosure purposes, I am a co-author on the ORTC API and a co-founder at Hookflash .