More Screen-Share Please

by Colin Berkshire

My wife and I are flying together side by side in nice, comfortable business class seats. And, we would like to watch a movie during the 11 hour flight. Let me clarify: we would like to watch a movie together…as a shared moment.

people sharing content onlineSharing one screen (iPhone or iPad) has several problems. After 30 minutes you get neck cramps. And, you can’t bridge audio using Bluetooth headphones.

Why isn’t there a standard, built in feature on iPhones and iPads (or a cross platform standard protocol everybody can use) for screen sharing? At home I can mirror my phone to my Apple TV, why not to any nearby person?

My wife and I could start up a movie and then mirror the screen and audio to the other person who is sitting in the airplane seat 2 feet away. We could laugh together, exchange glances, pause and talk, and have a moment of together time.

I think the need for this is widespread.

A teacher can share their screen with a classroom.  Cross-country sharing would allow adding people into a meeting or a customer problem and we would all be on the same track. My mom is 91 and 5 hours away; I would love to watch a movie with her or show her some YouTube clips…she can’t even start a movie herself because of being paralyzed on one side…I would like to transition from FaceTime to screen sharing with her.

How is it that we have become so hyper-narrow in our view of conferencing services that we aren’t seeing the big elephant in the room?