Don’t get me wrong before we start here, the ability to chat in a window inside Facebook with Skype’s video capabilities is really neat. If they execute the plan correctly, it will almost certainly keep a lot of people inside the Facebook family where thousands of video-chat seekers may have otherwise run to Google+ for their brand new Hangout video chat program. What we’ve learned today, however, is that the Facebook team has seen what Google+ can do and that they understand that LOTS of people are thinking of Google+ as a real alternative to Facebook and that they wanted to know what Facebook thinks about Google+ as it stands today. They understand and they’ve certainly responded.
The talk today started with Mark Zuckerberg making a case for the idea that Social Networking has taken off, and that, though he did not say it implicitly, Facebook has been at the center of this revolution. His first relatively big announcement was that Facebook now has 750 million users, finishing this thought with a note that they’d held off sharing this statistic because he and the Facebook team don’t feel that the amount of users on the network is the most important number anymore. This, at once, throws a rather important number in Google’s face AND allows Zuckerberg to say that it’s no big deal – so what, who cares? He goes on to say the amount that people share is the real big number.
Zuckerberg goes on to mention a new design for chat, that being a sort of AOL Instant Messanger-esque buddylist along the right of your screen, group chat, and of course Video Calling with Skype. After noting these three points, Zuckerberg says that they’re releasing apps and programs like these one item at a time in small doses on purpose. Zuckerberg notes in what your humble narrator believes wholeheartedly is another jab at Google with their giant undertaking in Google+ form:
“Companies that focus will always do better than ones that try to do a million things” – Mark Zuckerberg
Philip Su is called onto stage and does a short demo of what Video Chat will look like on Facebook. Using this function will require a single-time download (per browser, we imagine) leading you to a one-button connection to whoever you want to video chat with via their profile. He makes a really rather pointed quote happen here that, you guessed it, again has at G+ for the umpteenth time:
“No separate accounts, no separate connections, on a network that already has all your friends on it.” Philip Su, Facebook Software Engineer
Tony Bates, CEO of Skype is called out of the crowd and delivers a set of words not unlike the pre-recorded message you see here:
You’ll notice much excitement over lots of work done leading up to this precise moment in history. Did Skype and Facebook intend on announcing this collaboration before it was ready to launch in earnest?
Then came the whopper, inside the Q and A session, as asked by the lucky first questioner, a writer from Mashable, coming in the form of some sort of filler words in front of the bomb: “and what do you think about Google+”
Zuckerberg plays it cool and answers in a way that promotes moving forward rather than reacting to the Google+ mess we’re all in:
“As far as the Google stuff goes, I’m not going to say a lot. The next 5 years are about building apps. A lot of companies that haven’t been social in the past, not just Google, will be building social apps. In some cases they’ll build on existing infrastructure, in some they’ll build their own. Facebook’s job is to stay focused.” -Mark Zuckerberg
Growth, accessing the userbase that Facebook already has, working with the friends you’ve already got, all of this for the greater good of the one TRUE social network, right? They’ve got their own movie for goodness sakes! The saga will continue to unfold, and RIGHT NOW via our Tabletpalooza contest where you’ll have to connect to BOTH social networks to grab yourself a free Android dual-core monster.
Looks like some of the Skype crew might’ve had a sleepless night to please owners of the Nexus S 4G. If you’ll recall, June 30th saw a major update to its Android app enabling video chat on four devices; although the Nexus S was part of the club, its door was locked for Sprint’s 4G variant. That’s quickly changed, however, as the team’s set loose a hotfix to grant it access — this despite initially stating we’d have to wait for a “future release.” You can grab the app from the Android Market if you haven’t yet, and be sure to let us know how it goes in comments. Oh, and for those anxious Thunderbolt owners? We’d recommend not holding your breath until after the 4th of July holiday.
The HTC Thunderbolt may have been officially announced way back at CES, but there’s still quite a bit we don’t know about the phone — namely, a price or a release date. We now at least have what looks to be a fairly solid hint of the latter, however, courtesy of the above shot of a Best Buy inventory screen that lists an in stock date of February 14th. You’ll note that the screen doesn’t actually mention the HTC Thunderbolt anywhere, but some sleuthing by the folks at Android Central reveals that the product code matches one found on a Thunderbolt box that turned up in a recent hands-on video. Joining that rumor is a separate one from Droid Life, which has obtained some supposedly authentic Verizon materials that suggest the Thunderbolt won’t be shipping with mobile hotspot functionality enabled at launch, and that Skype video chat won’t be enabled initially either. No word on a reason for the delay (if there actually is one), but both features will seemingly be enabled at some point, and there will apparently be a placeholder icon in the case of Skype that will display a “coming soon” message if it’s launched.
Skype has stripped the beta label from its Skype for Mac app, and in the process made group video calling a premium – i.e. paid – feature. $4.99 gets you a day’s use of group video, or there’s a monthly subscription for $8.99. Meanwhile, Skype has also slimmed down the UI and stuffed more of IM conversations into the screen at any one time.
There’s also the return of full-screen video calls, and an easily revealed chat pane for when you’re in the midst of them. The new UI changes are welcome, certainly, but group video calls going premium will be a disappointment to many. You can download Skype for Mac here.
Word from Mozilla is that one of the top crashers of Mozilla Firefox 3.6.13 (current version) is the Skype toolbar. This toolbar works with Firefox to detect phone numbers in webpages, turning them into clickable buttons. This extension is bundled with Skype and is clicked to be installed by default whenever someone downloads or updates Skype. Now Mozilla has found that over the past week this toolbar has been responsible for almost 40,000 crashes of Firefox. That’s a lot.
Of course it really depends on the version of Skype Toolbar your using, but furthermore this toolbar uses some methods to detect and re-render phone numbers that will make your DOM manipulation 300 times slower – this effects a large percentage of web content today and is therefor making your whole experience totally crappy. What is Mozilla doing about it?
First, blocklisting the extension: all versions of Skype Toolbar have been added to Mozilla Firefox Blocklist. This is what they call a “soft block” where the extension is temporarily disabled while you the user are notified of the potential problem, at which time you’re able to either choose to continue working with it or to get rid of it entirely.
Bugs associated with this situation are: bug 615799 and bug 627278, and the full blocklist entry will be added sometime in the next 48 hours.
Huh, that was fast. Barely one week has passed since Skype announced plans to acquire rival Qik, and now the buyout is complete. Skype celebrated with a blog post announcing the deal and reaffirms that its teams will be “working together… to make our mobile video products even better.” Not to worry, Qik faithful, we doubt you’re world will change much — not yet, at least.
Skype‘s official statistics have confirmed that it set a new record for simultaneous users of its VoIP service, with over 27 million online in the past seven days. In fact, both the 26m and 27m records were broken in short succession in the past few days; Skype is yet to comment officially on the numbers – they’re perhaps waiting for the 30m mark, which would be rounder and more press release friendly – but the breakthrough comes in the wake of video-capable iOS apps and new group calling functionality.
Whether those two factors have seen more users flock to the service remains to be seen, but it certainly looks as though Skype’s downtime over the holiday period has been forgotten or at least forgiven. A bug in a version of Skype for Windows was blamed for causing a chain reaction of supernode crashes, that pulled the VoIP service offline for an extended period.
Skype is keeping busy at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. With rumors that the company would be buying Qik by the end of the show, and then turning out that the deal is already almost finished up, it seems that the company is revamping a few key areas of their business plan at the start of 2011. With that in mind, the company has unveiled a new premium package for those who need to do more, together.
The company has unveiled the new premium packages in tandem with the announcement of their new group video calling feature. This gives users the ability to correspond in groups, instead of just one-on-one. The group feature will be part of the premium package, and the company has provided several different options for people to use. All of the packages include live chat customer support, for those who need it.
The first package, which is meant as a day-pass for those who just need the service as a one-time deal, will cost $4.99, and the monthly subscription will run $8.99. But, as a bonus for those who sign up for the group feature right out of the gate, they’ll receive a 33% discount on the available 3- or 12-month subscription plans. There won’t be a discount made available for the day pass. The group calling feature, and the premium package are available now.
Press Release
Do More Together Wherever You Are with Skype Group Video Calling
Skype Launches New Premium Package
2011 International CES
LAS VEGAS, Nev.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Skype has officially launched group video calling for consumers and enterprises, allowing people to do more together wherever they are. Whether you’re looking to bring your family together on a video call or better connect with work colleagues across the globe, group video calling makes it easy to bring to together groups of three or more on a single video call. Video calling accounted for approximately 41.5% of all Skype-to-Skype minutes in the second half of 2010.
Group video calling is available as part of the new Premium package from Skype which offers group video calling together with access to live chat customer support as a day pass for $4.99 (€3.49/£2.99)* or as a monthly subscription for $8.99 (€5.99/£4.99)* per month. Skype users who sign up for group video calling in the first month it’s available will receive a 33 percent discount on 3 and 12-month subscriptions. New users receive a 7-day free trial. In addition, consumers who sign up for group video calling will receive a 25 percent discount off an HD webcam.
Group video calling is also available in the new Business version of Skype, a desktop application for PCs, which gives enterprises the ability to control how Skype is used within the workplace, with the capacity to turn off or configure a variety of Skype settings. With group video calling, enterprises can easily set up real-time, face-to-face meetings and work in more collaborative and productive ways. For enterprises using Skype Manager who sign up for Group Video Calling, they will receive a 33 percent discount when signing up for a 3 or 12 month subscription. In addition, they will receive a 15 percent discount off of a headset and speakerphone bundle.
Group video calling has brought together family, friends and work colleagues like never before, such as a Spanish family who were reunited after 6 years apart, the Global Learning Exchange who brought together classrooms from Singapore and Bakersfield, CA and companies like ePromos who can better collaborate with remote co-workers and suppliers.
To start a group video call, only one member of the call needs to have activated the seven-day free trial or to have signed up for a day pass or monthly subscription using Skype for Windows 5.1. For all participants to receive video, they need to be on at least the 5.0 version of Mac and windows. Skype video calls between two parties will continue to be offered as a free product.
Resources for Media:
Case studies on how consumers and organizations are benefiting from group video calling today
Screenshots of group video calling and other Skype products
Video of how businesses can use group video calling
*Pricing is VAT exclusive. Pricing inclusive of VAT for a day pass is $5.74 (€4.01/£3.44) and for a monthly subscription $10.34 (€6.89/£5.74). A fair usage policy applies.
About Skype
Skype is the world’s communications platform whose purpose is to break down barriers to communication. With an Internet-connected device, families, friends and colleagues can get together for free with messaging, voice and video. At low cost, they can also call landlines or mobiles virtually anywhere in the world. Skype has recently introduced group video, allowing groups of more than two people to do things together whenever they’re apart.
Well, we can’t say we saw this one coming, but Skype has just dropped a bombshell right in the middle of CES — it’s announced plans to acquire rival video calling company Qik. No terms of the deal have been disclosed, but Skype says that the transaction is expected to close this month. According to Skype, the two companies will “focus on providing a richer, more integrated experience that will allow people globally to share experiences in real-time video across different platforms,” and it notes that Qik’s “deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype.” Head on past the break for the official press release.
Skype has announced that it is buying Qik, in a deal rumored earlier on today. The deal, the company claims, will allow them to integrate Qik’s recording, sharing and storing capabilities to Skype’s existing video systems.
Meanwhile, it will also allow Skype to use Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, and the 60-strong employee team responsible for it and the Qik service, to further optimize video transmission over wireless networks. Earlier this week, Skype and NVIDIA demonstrated a new HD video calling system for Android, which could benefit from reductions in bandwidth use.
Terms of the deal have not been announced, but the earlier rumors suggested it would be worth in the region of $100m. Skype expects the deal to close later this month.
