Apple took just a few quick minutes during its Back To The Mac event today to announce Facetime on OS X. The release seems only natural as most Macs have had an integrated web camera for years and this type of vertical integration is Apple’s claim to fame. Of course they were going to bring the service full circle and the only question was really when it would launch.
Steve Jobs didn’t spend that much time on the announcement, mainly because it’s rather simple. So simple that there was only a quick demo and it works like you would expect — nice and simple. Best of all, Mac users can download the beta right now.
Facetime’s future isn’t exactly clear right now as the app is only available as a beta. But it’s free and available right now directly from Apple. Chances are Apple will quietly move the OS X application from beta sometime in the future once its full potential is released.