Hints of video chat for iPhones and iPads

UPDATE: Engadget confirms video support, file downloads and local storage, plus more text tools (user entries in Dictionary, for example), location-aware ads in Maps, the ability to draw to external displays and prototype support for a "handwriting keyboard." Neat!

9to5Mac reports that it has found both icons and code in the iPhone 3.2 SDK that could be indicative of video chat functionality coming to future iPads and/or iPhones. Specifically, there are icons labelled "AcceptVideo" and "DeclineOrEndVideo" complete with camera icons reminiscent of those already used by iChat, as well as a text string in the TelephonyUI which reads: "setButton2:_updateButtonSettings:_buttonWidthinitForVideoChatWithFrame"
– both of which are indicative of at least the embryonic beginnings of coding for video chat.

This isn't the first hint we've heard of video conferencing coming to some future iDevice. Apple-issued replacement parts for the iPad's frame contain a slot identical to the one used for iSight cameras on the MacBook, and another repair company has recently issued pics of what it claims is the next-gen iPhone's front face, complete with a mysterious hole that could be used for a front-facing camera. Many have cited the lack of any kind of camera and therefore the impossibility of video conferencing as one of their biggest disappointments concerning the iPad. General consensus among analysts is that even if Apple doesn't include a camera in the first-gen iPad, it almost certainly will next year; 9to5Mac's unearthing of video chat code in the iPhone 3.2 SDK is only the latest bit of evidence in support of that theory.

[Via MacDailyNews]