Some folks are disappointed that there's no videoconferencing capability on the upcoming iPad. Some think that a future version will include it. And they be right if Apple wants it to appeal to a wider swatch of users.

A recent survey of more than 1,200 business professionals in the United States, Japan, South Korea and China revealed that video chat/conferencing is rapidly being adopted worldwide, for business and personal use. The survey (http://www.gipscorp.com/survey), conducted by Research Now and sponsored by Global IP Solutions, indicates that business professionals across multiple industries are adopting video in an effort to communicate and collaborate more clearly and effectively. The survey is available at http://www.gipscorp.com/survey

"The results of this survey underscore the increasing value of video in business communication," says Joyce Kim, Chief Marketing Officer at GIPS. "With demand for Unified Communications and desktop video conferencing on the rise, video quality issues such as delay and freezing must be addressed in order for users to effectively connect and collaborate."

° Some highlights of the survey include:

° Seventy-nine percent of those who use video rely on consumer applications such as Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL and Skype, while 21% used video conferencing systems such as those offered by Cisco and Polycom.  

° Sixty-one percent indicated video delay and video freezing as the largest concerns of video chat/conference use.

° In the US, 40% of business professionals surveyed indicated that their company will be deploying a video communication solution within the next 6-24 months.

Research Now programmed the online survey on behalf of Global IP Solutions to 1,200 senior business professionals in a variety of industries and employment positions across the United States, China, Japan and South Korea. The survey was conducted in late 2009 and all respondents were working in office environments that required them to operate a computer frequently during the workday.

Dennis Sellers