There is no Such Thing as “User Expectations of WebRTC”

Get over it. Your users don't know and don't care about WebRTC. Here's a sentence I heard recently "user expectation of WebRTC". I am sorry, but there's no such thing. I think and breath WebRTC, and my wife, kids, mother and sisters have no idea what it is. They expect nothing of it. They all know what Skype is (mother included). At the end of the day, WebRTC is just a technology. A great one. But users don't care. They want to use a SERVICE. When you go to Mailchimp, update your profile and want to upload a photo, you might notice a button there with "Take a photo" written on it. it uses WebRTC's get user media to acquire that photo. And guess what? People don't have any user expectation out of WebRTC photo taking capabilities – they want the process and the experience of Mailchimp profile editing to be smooth.

Same goes to voice and video calling capabilities of WebRTC – they are just as good as all the rest out there. It is up to you as a developer to decide where to host it, where to place your NAT traversal servers, how to build and deploy your recording capabilities, and to design a killer user experience so smooth to die for. Users expect it from you and not from WebRTC. Don't let old school vendors put fear and doubt in your mind about this new service called WebRTC – it is just a technology. The best there is at that price point – and competitive to most other solutions in any price point. Take the plunge, make 2014 the year you take care of your user expectations – WebRTC will be good enough for your needs.