Does WebRTC need a change in governance?
Is it time to change the governance of WebRTC in order to keep it growing and flourishing?
Read MoreA long, boring straight line.
In some ways, WebRTC now feels like a decade ago, when every time we said "next year will be the year of video". For WebRTC? Next year will be the year of adoption.
Adoption is hard to define though. What does it really means when it comes to WebRTC?
WebRTC has been picked up by carriers (AT&T, Comcast and others if you care about name dropping), most (all?) video conferencing and unified communication vendors, education, banking and healthcare industries, contact centers.
While all is well in the world of WebRTC, there is no hype. A year and a half ago I wrote about it - the fact that there is no hype in WebRTC. It still holds true. Too true. And too steadily.
The chart below is a collection of 2 years of data of some of the data points I follow with WebRTC. I hand picked here 4 of them:
In all of these cases (as well as other metrics I collect and follow), the trend is very stable. There's growth, but that growth is linear in nature.
There are two minor areas worth mentioning:
Some believe that the addition of Microsoft Edge will change the picture. Statistics of Edge adoption and the statistics I've collected in the past two months show no such signs. If anything, I believe most still ignore Microsoft Edge.
Don't be discouraged. This situation isn't really bad. 2015 has been a great year for WebRTC. We've seen public announcements coming from larger vendors (call it adoption) as well as the addition of Microsoft into this game.
Will 2016 be any different? Will it be the breakout year? The year of WebRTC?
I doubt it. And not because WebRTC won't happen. It already is. We just don't talk that much about it.
If you are a developer, all this should be great news for you - there aren't many others in this space yet, so demand versus supply of experienced WebRTC developers favors developers at the moment - go hone your skill. Make yourself more valuable to potential employers.
If you are a vendor, then find the most experienced team you can and hold on to them - they are your main advantage in the next years when it comes to outperforming your competitors when it comes to building a solid service.
We're not in a hyped up industry as Internet of Things or Big Data - but we sure make great experiences.
Is it time to change the governance of WebRTC in order to keep it growing and flourishing?
Read MoreRTC@Scale is Facebook’s virtual WebRTC event, covering current and future topics. Here’s the summary for RTC@Scale 2024 so you can pick and choose the relevant ones for you.
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