The New York Times writes that Skype will soon be on internet connected televisions from Panasonic and LG. Simply connect a living room appropriate webcam and microphone combo to your television, and abracadabra you’ve got 720P high definition video conferencing. Skype CEO Jonathan Rosenberg is quoted as saying “there is no doubt that soon every TV that ships will have built in Wi-Fi, webcams and microphones”.
I’ve been playing with Skype on large screens, off and on, for a couple of years now. Iotum once gave an investor pitch, for example, using Skype on a projector plus a PC. Video quality, when magnified to 60+ inches, has always been the achilles heel of the system. The other problem, of course, has been microphone pickup in the absence of a headset. Skype, Panasonic and LG are finally set to address both those concerns, ushering in a whole new era of consumer video phones a mere 46 years after the debut of the Picturephone at the 1964 World’s Fair.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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This idea is great. I'd love to try this out.
Thanks