New Yahoo Messenger for iPhone and Android will have video chat

In true Apple style, FaceTime is both a neat reinvention of a previously uninteresting space and a service that comes with certain limitations. So if being constrained to Wi-Fi-only video calling and only if both ends use either an iPhone 4 or the newest iPod Touch are the kinds of things that annoy you and only hinder your use of mobile video chat, rather than make the whole experience user friendly, Yahoo might have a solution.

Yahoo's upcoming version of its Messenger app for iPhone and Android will have video chat capabilities, according to David Katz, Yahoo's VP of Mobile for the Americas. The app will be free and work both via Wi-Fi and the carrier's network. Aside from video chatting with one another, its users will also be able to video call those who have Yahoo Messenger on their computers.

The ability to video chat with people on computers is one of the most requested features for Apple's FaceTime, and while that was rumored to be on its way, it hasn't been officially announced yet. Perhaps the fact that a competitor with Yahoo's brand recognition is implementing the features that people are missing in FaceTime will make Apple work faster on getting them out.

The new Yahoo Messenger iPhone app with integrated video chat has not been approved by Apple yet, and it will be interesting to see whether it gets approval or not, considering that two other apps that allow video calls over both 3G and Wi-Fi, namely Fring and Tango, have received the green light in the past.

Tags: android, freeware, iphone 4, Iphone4, video chat, video chat over 3G, VideoChat, VideoChatOver3g, Yahoo, YahooMessenger