Apple adds Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) to Webkit

Lantre Barr, CEO and founder of Blacc Spot Media

Excitement is in the air! Apple has given its seal of approval by placing Web Real-Time Communications into development for Webkit.

Webkit is the engine that powers Apple’s Safari browser. It’s not the type of announcement you would expect to come from Apple, says Lantre Barr, CEO and founder of Blacc Spot Media. There weren’t any big press releases, nor were there artists performing hit songs. Apple simply placed the notice on the Webkit status page for all to see.

Apple’s adoption of WebRTC is a big step for our community and we are ecstatic to witness it reach the considerable milestone of securing Apple as the last major browser vendor.

WebRTC has evolved rapidly due to a great community of developers, innovative thinkers and problem solvers that recognise the potential this technology brings to the market. Some of the most notable companies implementing WebRTC include the likes of Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Ericsson, Amazon, Intel, Facebook, Snapchat, Slack and Blackboard.

With Apple being such a latecomer to the industry, experts, such as Dave Michels began to question the validity of WebRTC. He expressed his views in a recent post “WebRTC is a Distraction”. As the fight for WebRTC adoption with Apple’s Safari browser began to heat up, a few in the industry decided to give Apple a helping hand. A group comprised of Ericsson,Igalia, Centricular, and Dr Alex Gouaillard started a new initiative to bring WebRTC to WebKit.

We can’t say for sure the impact this group’s initiative had on Apple’s decision of adopting WebRTC, but it has been clear to those who closely follow the industry that Apple has been quietly integrating WebRTC for some time now. As a result, some of us anticipated that WebRTC would make its way into the Webkit eventually.

Now that it is well-known that Apple is on-board with WebRTC, the next big question most will ask is which codec will Apple choose to support first? Based on Apple’s history, H.264 is the obvious choice. Those who follow Apple closely know that their services, such as FaceTime, run on H.264 and AAC-ELD.

In the early days there was strong debate around H.264 vs VP8 as the preferred codec. In November 2014, it was announced that browser vendors would support both the H.264 and the VP8 codecs. With the release of Chrome 50, H.264 can now be implemented behind a flag. Now with all the vendors supporting H.264, there isn’t a need for transcoding streams across browsers, it will work out of the box. We can only assume that the added support for H.264 in Chrome 50 was a driving force behind Apple formally putting WebRTC into development for Webkit.

Who can say for certain? What we do know is that this is just what the industry has been waiting for. Well sort of, most early adopters and experts in the industry knew that this day would come and it was only a matter of time. Those who dared to be innovative early on and embraced WebRTC have a head start on their competition.

It’s expected that the WebRTC market will reach $4.45 Billion by 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 50.9% from 2015 to 2020. In 2015 we saw over $1 Billion in funding go to WebRTC related companies and over 40 mergers and acquisitions take place. Early adopters will be the first to reap the rewards of this growth.

Interestingly enough, we believe all the hoopla around those who have not implemented WebRTC because Apple was missing from the picture were misguided and uninformed. In the beginning, there was major debate around applications not being able to use WebRTC through the browser on iOS devices. It brought about uncertainty to those developing solutions using the technology because the solutions were considered incomplete or lacking full interoperability.

Now we have official support from all the major players, Google, Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple further cementing that WebRTC is here to stay. We don’t have a timeframe defining when Apple will fully support or implement WebRTC features such as the desktop share or DataChannel, but now we have proof that something great is baking and it smells like warm ‘Apple’ pie.

Perception of the future technology landscape drives business decisions and Apple is a front runner in setting the climate of the tech community based on its approval or apprehension to accept certain technologies. Previously, it has been the perception of many companies and organisations that WebRTC would not stand the test of time without Apple.

It will be interesting to see how the pendulum shifts now that Apple has joined the WebRTC bandwagon. Over the past 5 years, the WebRTC community has unified in the effort to navigate through major hurdles and obstacles while evolving into a stronger entity. With Apple on team WebRTC, the climate is even more ripe for growth. We are enthusiastic about where this momentum will take us.

Welcome to the party Apple!

The author of this blog is Lantre Barr is CEO and founder of Blacc Spot Media.

Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @IoTNow_ OR @jcIoTnow

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