Another major holiday has passed, and once again I plead:

Dear Apple,

Please make a FaceTime camera for the Apple TV. I will buy two for my house, and then I’ll buy one for everybody in my family. If necessary I’ll buy them a new Apple TV as well.

Happy Easter, The Mindful Bit

I’ve hooked and unhooked my laptop to my TV for family holiday videochats a dozen times. It’s always complicated (well beyond the technical reach of the average family) and seems so wasteful when there’s already an AppleTV attached and ready to go.

In theory I could try screen sharing from an iPad or iPhone, but the audio latency is a killer and there’s no good place to put the phone so it keeps a steady field of view.

My family is a bit less tech-savvy and instead they huddle around their iPhone, iPad, laptop or desktop, struggling to share the camera’s tiny field of view and listen to their loved ones’ voices through a tiny, tinny speaker.

What if everybody could just sit on their couch and talk like normal people instead, on the biggest display and through best stereo they own?

We know the 3rd Gen Apple TV has Bluetooth and WiFi. We know it’s got a powerful enough processor and that it runs a version of iOS. Apple TV FaceTime has to be technically possible. A simple wireless webcam couldn’t be a huge stretch for Apple’s talented hardware folks. A TV-based app that brings free, simple video calling to the parents and grandparents of the world can’t be much more of a challenge to the iOS software team.

A hypothetical FaceTime capability for Apple TV would make a huge positive impact on my family, and I’m sure it would do the same for all those with loved ones scattered across the country and world.

I sure wish I could buy a ton of them in time for Christmas.