Video greetings for voicemail systems

A method for operating a mobile device, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a calling party device associated with a calling party, a video greeting identifier, wherein the video greeting identifier corresponds to a called party;
• retrieving, at the calling party device from within the calling party device in a retrieval act using the video greeting identifier, a pre-stored video greeting, the pre-stored video greeting to be played to the calling party in solicitation of a voice message from the calling party, wherein the pre-stored video greeting is associated with a called party device;
• and
• following the retrieval act, providing the video greeting to the calling party.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, for use in a voicemail system, comprising instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a call at the voicemail system from a calling party device associated with a calling party;
• determining if a video greeting to be played to the calling party in solicitation of a voice message from the calling party, is stored on the calling party device, wherein the video greeting is associated with a called party device;
• sending a video greeting identifier to the calling party device, the video greeting identifier being used to identify the video greeting stored on the calling party device to cause the calling party device to play the video greeting to the calling party in solicitation of a voice message from the calling party;
• and
• recording a voicemail message from the calling party.