...like that Facetime and other technologies that have been around for years will still be unavailable over 3G.

‘also, be very carefully you place your fingers correctly, so as not to lose the signal when you reach us.. If you’re not sure how correctly is, just give us a call.’

Having a FaceTime (ugly term) with an Apple representative may be great but what GeelWonder said: Loosing your signal just because holding the iPhone wrong is a no go! Let’s hope Apple will fix this soon…

What will apple think of next? This is great and all, but I’m really struggling to see what value this service provides. For example, tech people may or may not need the extra hand holding.

But, more importantly, novices will be just as confused over-the-phone as they are in-person. At least, in-person someone can correct the source of confusion with the point of a finger.

What do you think Jason F.?

Here’s an interesting though… do all of the Apple reps on the FaceTime team have iPhone4’s or do you think Apple have implemented a desktop version of FaceTime that their employees are using?

Has anyone tried it? Did it look like they were holding the phone?

I think the main idea is give people a chance to use it even if they don’t yet know anyone else who has an iPhone 4. It’s evangelism, not tech support.

Countdown until this devolves into a chat roulette nightmare for Apple reps.

@Gee and Ben: FaceTime only works over WiFi, and WiFi reception is unaffected by the holding-it-”wrong” issue.

@Re: Exactly. Evangelism v. Tech Support is spot-on. This is a superb improv move by Apple. Mitigates what could be a laughing-stock issue: “I was the only one of my friends who could get an iPhone 4 thanks to shortages and systems crashing, so now I can’t even test FaceTime!”

I haven’t done it yet. Feels like a first date, and I got married to avoid those.

Nice artilce. Thanks

I first noticed this sort of service introduction on Skype where you can make a test call to an automated system. Interaction with a live rep is, of course, a tad better.