Skype has confirmed the good news that as early as next week, the company will be launching a public beta of a much anticipated group video chat function. The new functionality will allow up to five people to participate in a video call at once. It will only be available on PC for now, with a Mac version to be released later in the year.
The new feature will be free when it launches, but Skype has plans to start charging for it later on, along with some additional features.
In addition to this news, recently it was reported that during 2009 Skype accounted for thirteen percent of all international call minutes! That’s a jump from eight percent in the previous year. Apparently Fifty four billion of the four hundred and six billion call minutes clocked up were Skype call minutes. Watch out Telcos, voice and video over the internet are starting to catch on, and they are inexpensive.
So there must be a fair few people out there using Skype on a regular basis now; I know I do, along with my family. Do you use it and how often? Is this a welcome new feature for you?
UPDATE: Skype Video Chat is now available (for PC only at present). The new feature is available in a trial of the new version of Skype.
RWW is reporting that to get the video chat running, the instructions are as follows:
“To make group video calls, the people you’re calling will also need to be running the new version, so make sure you let your friends and family know they can also download the beta by posting this on Facebook and Twitter. Once you’re all set up, it’s easy to start a group call – just use the Add button to invite people into the conversation, and click the Video Call button.”
Have fun video chatting!
