Apple is looking into ways to allow iPhone users to share media during calls, according to a patent filing uncovered by entusiast site AppleInsider. The patent is titled “Methods and systems for mixing media with communications” and says that while media is portable, it still is not easily shared remotely.

Essentially, what the technology would add is an “Add Media” button which would allow the user to share media with another iPhone user on the other end of the line. Users would be able to share music files, video, images, voicemails, and podcasts under this system.

After the media is shared, the sharer has full control over its playback, and can even move to a different media type altogether if they so desire.

What may be interesting to some is the repeated references in the filing to video conferencing on the iPhone. This seems to indicate that future iPhone models will indeed include a forward-facing video camera, if Apple is actually serious about bringing this functionality to the device.

Media sharing is definitely an interesting concept. However, I question how the entertainment industry would feel about this. As prickly as they are, I’d venture to guess they would have some problem with it.

 
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