Even though WebRTC is still an emerging technology, that hasn’t stopped early adopters from taking to it. Not just them, in fact – so many are using or preparing to use WebRTC that Google has found that over one billion endpoints support it already.
When the beta of Firefox 22 was released, it included full WebRTC support by default. That added millions of new users to the number of WebRTC capable endpoints, pushing up the already vast numbers to the billion mark.
Prior to this, Chrome had already set a pretty high bar for WebRTC compatible endpoints, but that doesn’t include its mobile devices. Out of its 750 million users, a strong majority are using the WebRTC-supporting non-mobile browsers, even if they’re not aware of it. Of course, as Google focuses more on WebRTC, we’ll be seeing the mobile browsers start to support it as well.
As it is now, Apple’s mobile operating system does not support WebRTC, nor does it plan to change that any time soon. Once more, Google is coming to the rescue, with plans to allow developers to add WebRTC support to iOS apps, but that is still a ways in the future.
Out of these billions of WebRTC endpoints, it’s safe to assume that many of them are not being fully utilized, due to WebRTC’s newness and incompletion. It is a quickly growing technology, though, so we can expect to see it put more and more to use in the coming months and years. Once it finally makes it to the mainstream, many users will be pleased to learn that their computers and devices are already WebRTC compatible, and can enjoy all the capabilities that it brings them.
Until that day, though, a billion endpoints is nothing to ignore. This is a clear indication that WebRTC is on the minds of developers and programmers everywhere, and is growing ever closer to fruition.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
