Tags: Microsoft

Skype launches video enabled application

The software company, which has pioneered VoIP on the internet, Skype, has finally unveiled the latest version of its popular internet telephony application. And this update brings free video calling facility as rumored in the market. They already dominate the voice telephony market on the internet and now they aim to double the advantage with support for video conferencing.

However, they are obviously not the first one to bring this functionality to computers as most online messengers like Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Messenger, and MSN Messenger already support it. However, the company aims to bring the same P2P magic to video, which it brought to voice over the internet.

Skype has more than 58 million registered users to their online VoIP service and this could give them an advantage over their competitors in this new segment they are entering. The company claims that they had to get into video conferencing market due to high consumer demand who wanted a one-stop solution to communicate with their friends, relatives, and business associates.

James Bilefield, vice-president of global business development at Skype said in a statement: “We sensed a frustration with users — ‘You did a great job with voice, can you help us out with video too?’.” Skype was recently acquired by online eCommerce giant eBay and their future aims might also be a reason why Skype launched this new version with video capabilities.

Some other features in this new beta update include the ability to personalize the application with avatars and ringtones, improved searching and grouping of contacts, and a toolbar, which allows Microsoft Outlook to make Skype calls to contacts with one click.

Checkout: Skype 2.0 Beta