Video calls have become ubiquitous. Most of us have the technology in our pocket to make a live video call to others, and remote work trends have cemented the habit. We might say that a meeting "could have been an email", but far more of us are saying, "I'm glad I didn't have to travel for this meeting”.

In just a few years, video calls went from fringe to mainstream, and resistance to the idea all but evaporated. Thus, when Google revealed Google Beam at its latest I/O event, it hardly made a ripple. Sure, the avalanche of AI announcements overshadowed it. But even Google's gimmicky Smart Glasses seem to pique more interest than Beam, which at the moment is a solution without a problem.