Yesterday I was setting up a computer for a colleage and showing him how to use Apple’s iChat program with the iSight camera to do easy video chats. He asked me how much the setup cost and I told him the program is free and the iSight itself is $129. He was astounded by how *cheap* it was, while I was busy saying that Logitech makes a perfectly good camera for $60.

Truth is, he’s right. I’ve been doing weeks of research on a new video conferencing system that, all told, is going to end up costing $15,000 or more. The Polycom PVX software, which is supposed to provide pretty good video chat, is $250. The cheapest set-top units are at least $3,000. That Apple could enter the marketplace with a hideously easy, amazingly wonderful quality video conferencing system, and give it away for free, and charge only $129 for a very nice little camera with stereo sound, ya know what, he’s right, there is something wonderful about that.

Yes, there is Microsoft NetMeeting and all kinds of other third-party video conferencing and collaboration tools, but Apple took something that no one had gotten right and gave it to the masses in a form that Just Works ™. There is much to be said for that. And it sure is difficult to explain to people why it is that the $15,000 unit won’t do everything they want and more, when a $129 system for Apple can do at least half of it.