The new iPod touch is rumoured to be arriving with FaceTime but so far we’ve been in the dark about how Apple would route calls without a phone number to kick them off. Now a source purporting to know its plans has suggested it’ll all be pinned to your Apple ID. Here’s how…
Boy Genius Report (which had a spot of bother with those Steve Jobs emails recently) says a more reliable Apple connection has given it the new iPod touch FaceTime plan. To set up FaceTime on your iPod Touch, you’ll register your Apple ID and it will then use your email address to call.
FaceTime call requests will apparently be delivered to the new iPod touch via push notifications. The feature is said to already be lurking within the iOS 4.1 beta code.
There are still quite a few questions to be answered if this really is the way the new iPod touch will make and receive FaceTime calls. Will iPhone 4 owners also need to register an Apple ID for iPod touch owners to call them? Will the iPod touch finally get its own mic or will you still have to invest in headphones?
Using your Apple ID as your FaceTime calling card would also further open up the possibility of logging in to make video calls from iChat or even Skype. Apple has said it’ll open-source the protocol and turning email addresses into universal alternative to a phone number would aid that.
And while the iPad hasn’t got a camera this time around, the next incarnation is highly likely to get one and FaceTime calls would surely come along with it. Using your Apple ID to receive calls on it would work a treat.
What do you think? Does this seem like a smart way for Apple to bring FaceTime to the new iPod touch and the iPad?
Out TBC | £TBC | Apple (via Boy Genius Report)
