I’ve waxed lyrical about how Apple is about to wake up the sleepy mobile video call market, but it looks like this development has been just enough to wake Nokia (the worlds no.1 mobile handset manufacturer in case you’re a reporter at the NY Times!) into launching something that may offer even greater potential and it’s available today – so no need to wait!
With it’s latest software update (launched yesterday in the UK and today around the rest of the world) on the N900 Maemo Smartphone, Nokia has made it possible for customers to start making skype video calls on their mobiles.
I’ve got hold of an updated N900 today and it works really well (check this post later today as I’ll be updating it with a photo showing what it looks like).
So what’s so good about Nokia’s solution:
1) It gives video/voice access to anyone on Skype (a population of over 520 million that are mostly using PC’s)
2) It works on 3G and WiFi (so you can use it for free when abroad!)
3) The application enables the user to easily set their presence
4) The application is built into the Operating System update or with all new phones (ie. no need to download anything – just enter your Skype name and password and you’re ready to go!)
5) The service enable’s users to easily set their presence and includes the Skype IM client (Great for telling family at home you’ve made it to your hotel room at the conference and are ready to accept their Video Call!)
Downsides:
1) The mobile needs to be installed with the application and this is only currently available for the highest specification Nokia Smartphone (they need to make this available on their much more popular Symbian devices for scale)
2) Skype Out hasn’t (YET) implemented outbound 3G Video Calling (so although you can Video Call any Skyper using a PC you’ll only be able to video call those with a N900 and won’t be able to make a video call to any 3G Video Mobile)
3) Whilst this is good enough for chatting with friends the security standards won’t be sufficient for professional services which require confidentiality to be maintained (so for example consulting with a Doctor using a Skype mobile video call isn’t something you should do yet)
[...] I have no doubt the application will be upgraded to offer mobile to PC/MAC video calls and that we’re going to get some 3G connectivity though the iPhone 4 Video Skype App – which I hope will be at least as good as the embedded application I already have running on my Nokia N900 Video Mobile! [...]
[...] within 3G coverage areas already out numbers that by several orders of magnitude… but as the Skype Video Application for Smartphones continues to get traction this is the competitor I’d be watching if I were a mobile operator [...]
[...] dismissive when their mobile video calling product is so good, there’s an announcement on their corporate blog that they’ve partnered with the UCSF [...]
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[...] OS) and now they’re expanding the range that can support Video Calling over 3G – which until now was limited to the Nokia N900. This is great for mobile video calling but I’d be very concerned about this if I was a [...]