The iPhone has received its first video messenger application and one of the nicest things about it is that it is free and is now available on the iTunes App Store.

The application gives iPhone owners a new way to communicate with friends and family. Instead of using email or text messages you can now send short videos. It’s called 12mail for the fact that it will allow you to send 12 seconds of recorded video. The 12 second limit comes from mobile bandwidth limitations to ensure the file can be sent and received in a timely fashion over a cellular network.

Your contacts within 12mail can come from your Twitter and Facebook contacts. You need only link your Twitter and Facebook accounts to 12mail to send your them a short video message. Instead of sending your video to a specific group the application will also allow you to post your video to your Facebook page and Twitter account via a tweet. All video recordings include a title, tag, and can be setup with auto-locate. If you choose not to make a video you can also snap a photograph or pull one from your iPhone and record audio with it to send.

Upon sending a video message the iPhone will vibrate to let you know the message was sent successfully. If you are sent a 12mail video message you will be push notified. If you aren’t using the application at the time you will be notified of a new message through a wall post on Facebook or through a Direct Message on Twitter. If you don’t have the 12mail app you can still initiate or reply to a message at the 12seconds.tv website.

Read more at the 12mail website

Brian’s Opinion

Well, if you haven’t been making the most out of your iPhone’s video recording capability this is the application to get you to use it on a regular basis. Also, this is a significant upgrade over boring text, email, or even picture messages. 12mail is yet another application for the iPhone that may change the way you communicate on a regular basis.

When I first read about the 12 second video recording limitation on the iPhone app it made me think of Twitter’s 140 character limitation. As Twitter has shown us, you can get your message across in a short and concise way. Now you can even do so using video.

I was never one to use a video camera for long recordings. To be quite honest, watching them afterwards becomes boring. Now a short video on the other hand is enjoyable and encourages multiple viewings in the future. Clearly, the developers of 12mail think the way I do. Oh sure, they say the 12 second limitation is for bandwidth considerations. I say they were just sick of watching long family videos as much as I was growing up and they dedicated themselves to create a method by which short videos would rule the day.