VoIP Aims for HD Mobile Video Calls
First there was HD voice, and now VoIP is aiming for HD video calls. At his CommunicAsia 2010 keynote, Skype CEO Josh Silverman pointed out that video calls accounts for 34% of Skype-to-Skype calls in 2009. Skype is expanding to other frontiers with their Skype Mobile Video app for the Nokia N900, which allows Skype video calls over 3G or WiFi to other PCs or N900 devices. There are also some flatscreen TV models with embedded Skype clients. And just as Skype and other video clients pioneered HD voice calls, they are likely to do the same for video telephony if mobile VoIP goes well. Since video already makes up one third of Skype calls, more people want to have HD video calls, especially since the experience between standard video and HD video will be more dramatic.
VoIP providers will be watching their customers closely as they explore mobile video. Depending on how they use it and how different it is from the way they use desktop video, Skype and other VoIP players will deliver customers the experience they want.