You're on V-Mail

As the cost of "V-mail" (video mail) service drops, an "I miss you" message from a far-away sweetheart or a "Happy Birthday" serenade from Grandma could soon be sent to your inbox. A variety of companies have recently introduced cheap video-mail offerings that manage to squeeze a one-minute multimedia message to the size of a one-page Word document. And the prices of web cameras—ranging from $25 to $150—are dropping fast. V-mail technology has been around for years, but bandwidth limit and the expense of upgrading one's computer to view the videos have sidelined it. However, according to a recent Forrester Research study in the US, 94 percent of Internet users send an e-mail at least once a week, and 41 percent send pictures via email once a week, which shows a huge market. A number of Internet service providers (ISPs) are sure that consumers will make the jump to voice and video e-mails. AT&T World Net, Microsoft Corp's Web TV, Britain's BT Open World, and Yahoo, have all begun the V-mail services. All that's required is a standard web cam and video mail software. Some supplies charge a monthly fee for either an unlimited or set amount of V-mails. For example, Video Express Email charges $6.99 per month for unlimited video mails, or $99.99 per year. But while the technology is predicted to make in-roads in one's inbox, it will likely be a while before it becomes a favored tool of advertisers, predicts Forrester.

Short Answer Questions

1. Can people easily send V-mails to anyone?
2. Has V-mail technology been invented by now?
3. Will voice and video E-mails be largely increased from now on?
4. Is there still any problem when people take advantage of V-mails?
5. Are the users' inboxes big enough?

(Keys.)