[liberationtech] Why Skype (real-time) is losing out to WeChat (async)

[Nathan of Guardian]

On 12/27/2012 06:29 PM, David Gessel wrote:
> A minor semantic quibble, but "push-to-talk(1)" is "walkie talkie" mode that typically implies "live," "instant," and "synchronous" communications with the caveat that it is historically half duplex which remains useful in high-noise situations.
>
> "Push Voice" would imply push notifications indicating the availability of stored audio files probably containing voice data (voice store and forward (2)).  
I am definitely talking about Push-to-Talk.

What is interesting about the shift from VoIP to Push-to-talk is that
half duplex over TCP (PTT) is insanely easier to implement than full
duplex over UDP (VoIP).

Best,
 Nathan