Skip to main content

Skype to Add Video Calling App for iPhone, iPod Touch

Skype, the innovative Internet calling service, is set to offer a video chat application that will run on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. This will be the first true video calling for iPhone and its cousins, since the current FaceTime system does not allow non-members to participate. You can only make a Facetime call if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch enabled with FaceTime, and, as this writer knows, it can get pretty lonely out there when there is such a small base of potential callers to draw on.

The new Skype app will bring free video calling to appropriate Apple mobile products. Even iPad users will be able to use it, although they won't be able to initiate the call—they still can receive video chats from contacts. The app will work over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks, allowing users to access the feature across a variety of connections. It will allow users to turn on the video feature to activate any video chats from contacts.
The new app is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3Gs, and the 4th Generation iPod Touch with iOS 4.0 and above. Users can receive video chat on the 3rd Generation iPod Touch and iPad. (These are without front and rear cameras.) Calls can also be made between devices using the new Skype for iPhone app and desktops using Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac, Skype for Linux and ASUS Videophone.
Video calling may be coming soon to Android phones, as well. Rich Osterloh, Vice President of consumer products for Skype told TechCrunch that "Mobile is going to be big for Skype. We are making sure Skype is with you wherever you are and mobile will be the place where that happens as smartphones get more powerful."
Osterloh also said Apple was helpful in getting the videophone app to market, which means the company didn't worry that it competed with FaceTime.
All this comes about after a disastrous week for Skype, when outages had regular customers reeling. It turned out that a Windows client bug was responsible for the mess that upset tens of millions of users.
Skype also hopes to use its video conferencing feature for corporate clients for conferencing purposes.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evolution Of Computer Virus [infographic]

134 comments
CONTINUE READING THIS POST..........

4 Free Apps For Discovering Great Content On the Go

1. StumbleUpon The granddaddy of discovering random cool stuff online, StumbleUpon will celebrate its 10th anniversary later this year — but its mobile app is less than a year old. On the web, its eight million users have spent the last decade recommending (or disliking) millions of webpages with a thumbs up / thumbs down system on a specially installed browser bar. The StumbleUpon engine then passes on recommendations from users whose interests seem similar to yours. Hit the Stumble button and you’ll get a random page that the engine thinks you’ll like. The more you like or dislike its recommendations, the more these random pages will surprise and delight. Device : iPhone , iPad , Android 2. iReddit Reddit is a self-described social news website where users vote for their favorite stories, pictures or posts from other users, then argue vehemently over their meaning in the comments section. In recent years, it has gained readers as its competitor Digg has lost them.
141 comments
CONTINUE READING THIS POST..........

‘Wireless’ humans could backbone new mobile networks

People could form the backbone of powerful new mobile internet networks by carrying wearable sensors. The sensors could create new ultra high bandwidth mobile internet infrastructures and reduce the density of mobile phone base stations.Engineers from Queen’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology are working on a new project based on the rapidly developing science of body-centric communications.Social benefits could include vast improvements in mobile gaming and remote healthcare, along with new precision monitoring of athletes and real-time tactical training in team sports, an institute release said.The researchers are investigating how small sensors carried by members of the public, in items such as next generation smartphones, could communicate with each other to create potentially vast body-to-body networks.The new sensors would interact to transmit data, providing ‘anytime, anywhere’ mobile network connectivity.Simon Cotton from the i
49 comments
CONTINUE READING THIS POST..........