17 Things That 220 WebRTC Vendors Taught Me

Monitoring WebRTC vendors takes time, but it yields some interesting insights. Here are a few of them.

I have been monitoring WebRTC vendors for over a year now. It started with around 20 vendors and somehow, it just keeps growing. Lately, I’ve decided to do some house cleaning in this list I am maintaining – making sure the information I have is accurate and beefing up the amount of data and the number of vendors I am looking it.

I am now looking at the WebRTC ecosystem from is nuclei of web browsers, to first level vendors who use WebRTC APIs directly, to second level vendors who use API vendors and up to the third level of vendors. Some would argue that many of these vendors aren’t WebRTC vendors at all, but this early in the game, I think it still matters a lot to the understanding of the ecosystem that is building up around WebRTC – something that was impossible before.

This housecleaning effort? It is painful and long, but it does have some benefits. Here are 17 things I learned from this ongoing process:

1. WebRTC comes in all shapes and sizes. It can be a single person’s pet project or it can be a multibillion dollar carrier who adopts it
2. WebRTC changes everything we knew about classic interactions. Video calls are long – 30-60 minutes. Or at least until Sqwiggle tried to do something new with it
3. WebRTC minutes can be free or they can cost 10s of dollars easily. It all depends in the context in which they are placed
4. Node.js fits well with WebRTC. But not everyone agrees with this approach
5. It really doesn’t take much to build a commercial WebRTC service. Bootstrapping works
6. There are too many WebRTC players huddled around San Francisco
7. But then again, there are WebRTC vendors in Russia and India as well. Also Korea. And Ireland. And Canada. Or Brazil. And a few more countries. I guess you can say WebRTC is a global phenomena already
8. If we’re talking about countries, France seems a very active place of WebRTC development. Who would have thought?
9. Everybody uses WebRTC differently. Be it the selection of signaling protocol, the server backend system, the deployment strategy, how the service looks
10. Some may say WebRTC is a standard, but most venors and early adopters are treating it like a movement – they really don’t care about the standard as long as the browsers give them the functionality they need
11. While we’re at it, some break WebRTC to its atomic pieces to reuse them, while others take it as a whole. Some wait for it to mature enough before taking the plunge, while others tinker with every minor addition to it. Some use what it provides, while others modify it to best fit them
12. While WebRTC developers aren’t as hyped or as expensive as “data scientists”, they are still a very scarce resource
13. WebRTC is about the web and not about video conferencing. This is probably why the incumbents aren’t grokking it. I know I am surprised every other week by another interesting vendor
14. The data channel is VERY interesting. And important. It also has nothing to do with voice or video. Unless you want it to (but that requires a post of its own)
15. For some WebRTC is the basis of their service, for others it is just another cog in the machine, for others still it is a differentiator in an existing market
16. People are good in their core. Ask, and they will answer. Request, and they will assist. The amount of information I learned simply by clicking on a contact page of a vendor and continuing via email or chat is unbelievable. You guys love sharing your thoughts
17. I LOVE talking to people about their plans around WebRTC. I get to learn so much – so if you are into WebRTC, and haven’t talked to me yet – drop me a line