Skype: Bridging the Distance Between Family and Friends

About 50 years ago AT&T, released the first phone equipped with video streaming technologies. Unfortunately, the picture phone, as it came to be known, yielded extremely disappointing proceeds. These phone systems were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons including the whopping $16 dollar a minute phone charge, and the fact that video was confined to a small proximity because the phone had to be plugged into the wall at all times. While some obvious adjustments should have been made to this relic phone system, AT&T was undeniably light years ahead of their competitors.

While the picture phone may not ring any bells for people, its new predecessor Skype most definitely does. Skype is a downloadable online product based in Luxembourg and is the leading voice over Internet protocol or VoIP phone systems with over 520 million registered accounts worldwide. Skype provides users with options to call other Skype users for free, or landline and cell phones for an additional charge. Because Skype is based on the Internet it is unrestricted by peak hours and global distance. This has made it the desired business phone system for millions of companies. Skype can connect people around the globe with the extended ability of conferencing due to the streaming video.

As Skype’s popularity increases, so do its capabilities. Verizon Wireless and Skype teamed up to create the first smart phones that can use Skype. Verizon Wireless is making Skype available to its 90 million customers on nine different phones such as the BlackBerry® and the DEVOUR™. These Verizon smartphones will be able to make unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls, and partake in the sending and receiving Skype instant messages, both of which can be taken global at a moments notice. John Silverman the chief executive of Skype stated “Verizon Wireless will give US consumers the best Skype experience on mobile phones and will truly change the way people call their friends and family internationally.” Verizon aims to release these nine Skype compatible phones later this month.

While the idea of Skype being accessible through cell phones is incredible, the size of a smartphone’s screen presents a significant downside. For Skype users who are less concerned with a traveling Skype device, the television may provide a more beneficial, simplified option. In January of this year, iSupply surveyed 800 people who had just purchased a television and about 30% of them purchased an Internet connected television. This suggests that perhaps the necessary groundwork to bridge Skype to home television sets has already been laid.

By the late spring many electronic companies are already projecting to release their version of skype compatible televisions. Samsung, Panasonic and LG all project to release their Skype compatible televisions within the year. While Samsung and LG have yet to release the price of their new televisions, Panasonic estimates purchasing one of their Skype televisions will cost between $1200 and $2000. These televisions will possess all of the desired Skype features but will be accessible from your couch. While the television will provide a new innovative way to access this voice over IP phone system, retailers and Skype have yet to discuss what will happen if a Skype call is received during a television program.

Besides the chance that your favorite program will be interrupted by a Skype call, Display Search Analyst Paul Gagnon thinks Skype TV may not live up to consumer standards. Any person familiar with using Skype on a computer is well aware of the often-distorted video images, Gagnon projects this will be even worse when displayed on a much larger television screen. Another potential problem with Skypeing people through the television is that the Internet connection is vital to make and receive calls and televisions Internet capabilities remain to be seen.

Despite concerns of Skype on mobile phones and televisions, these new technologies will aid in giving people more meaningful communicative options. Overriding just about any challenge these developments will face.

By: Cyndi Lundeberg