Facebook Video Chat Will Launch Through Skype Partnership

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently promised that on July 6, Facebook would "launch something awesome" that the company's Seattle team developed. On Friday, Facebook distributed official invitations for a special event at its Paolo Alto headquarters on July 6.

Facebook's got something up its sleeve. But what?

TechCrunch claims to have an inside scoop that the social network has partnered with Skype to develop a video chat service, according to "a source with knowledge of the partnership."

Writes TechCrunch,

The product has been built on Skype and will include a desktop component. It’s not clear to me whether that means it will just work if a user has Skype already installed on the computer, or if additional software will need to be downloaded even if the user already uses Skype. But it’s clear that there’s very deep integration between the products, and from the user’s perspective, the product will be an in browser experience.

Google's newly launched social network (Google+) features a video chat feature (called Hangouts) that lets users chat one-on-one or in groups of up to 10. PCWorld predicts that the feature could grow into "serious competition" for Skype. Facebook currently does not offer a video chat feature.

There has also been speculation that Facebook may announce several other rumored works-in-progress, like an official iPad app, or even the super-secret Project Spartan mobile project.

Whatever is coming, we'll know after 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) on Wednesday, July 6.

Comments

[samba2623]

08:38 AM on 07/04/2011

Facebook isn't as good in keeping secrets as Apple.

[EricBishop]

02:58 PM on 07/03/2011

I think that Facebook's partnerships and their continued privacy issues give a perfectly clear picture of where they're headed.

My advice would be to get a Google+ or Diaspora invite any way you can.

[sleepytoad]

03:43 PM on 07/03/2011

I'm loving google + right now. A bit sparce but the video chat is awesome and in house.

[nomac]

10:07 PM on 07/03/2011

who do you think facebook got the idea of collecting and selling your info from........

i don't see how google is an alt. for facebook if your worried about privacy and security

[terry90]

10:01 AM on 07/03/2011

so now every time I log on to Skype I will be asked if I want to login with Facebook? what a pain.... Facebook seems to be everwhere now, blogs are using FB APIs (programming) for their comments sections.... will it ever end?? Facebook is too much in your face all the time....;-)

[Feurio]

08:42 PM on 07/03/2011

spam

[hotnewzs001]

09:38 AM on 07/03/2011

Facebook currently does not offer a video chat feature.Read out full Post at : http://tinyurl.com/5rbm68z

[Muhd Hanis]

09:36 AM on 07/03/2011

Mark has announced to newspaper that Facebook will give a surprise to everyone,it's that only emerging with Skype?
http://yuppygadget.com

[Chockolate]

08:20 AM on 07/03/2011

"Hello, can you all hear me?"

[deckard70]

08:44 PM on 07/02/2011

Great. Skype barely works already. Now with a few million more users, it is going to be even worse. I get fantastic download and upload speeds, but Skype is always a garbled mess, and the video is just a few still images followed by nothing at all.

[sensimilla]

09:16 PM on 07/02/2011

hmm, i've never had a problem with skype and im on slow broadband. Sounds like something is interrupting your packets..

[terry90]

10:02 AM on 07/03/2011

yep, me too.. I use it a lot & never a problem....

[netzwerg]

08:02 AM on 07/03/2011

Hmm, I guess you need to update your computer, or your broadband connection, or maybe even both.

Skype works very well here.

[hedah]

08:43 PM on 07/02/2011

OMFG ! i can imagine whats comin' !!!...AAWWW.....

[NHBill]

05:52 PM on 07/02/2011

Who tried to woo Facebook and failed?
Apple.
Who now owns Skype?
Microsoft.

[JackHoffman]

05:02 PM on 07/02/2011

Hallelujah! screamed the hookers.

[michaelmarian]

04:34 PM on 07/02/2011

With Google + and it's awesome 'circle' feature, I see Facebook being eventually marginalized. Google's social media is going to be way better. All this to say that the video feature for Facebook is just another desperate move by Facebook as it witnesses it's first sign decay with it's membership starting to falter. Bout time. I've been so done with Facebook for about a year now.

[fanofariana]

02:45 PM on 07/02/2011

Partening with R.Murdoch? I am sooooooooooo closing my account when it happens.

[skyslimit]

02:15 PM on 07/02/2011

Every time I see Mark Zuckerberg I see a little evil.

[fanofariana]

02:46 PM on 07/02/2011

Reason why he is joining forces with the evilest of them all. Ruppert.

[NHBill]

05:54 PM on 07/02/2011

Rupert owned Myspace until he sold it for pennies on the dollar.
Skype is owned by Mocrosoft.

[RobertoAlba]

01:42 PM on 07/02/2011

I've never seen so many bitter comments. I hope ya'll find something to be happy about today.

[bryanzth]

02:35 PM on 07/02/2011

Well, let me say this to cheer you up. Formerly, we had a combination of Yahoo Messenger, Skype and MSN voice, chat, file transfer, etc. All was marvelous first time tried, and at least two of them were stable (OK, MSN is gonna go away with the MS purchase of Skype). And even now, with good connections on both ends and with appropriate mics, the Skype experience can be better than POTS (plain old telephone system -- roughly 125 years old).

But here's the deal. POTS (even with its advantage of being "on" in a power outage) is going away, just like analog TV went away in favor of digital. And even "Skype" type apps per se are going away (MS bought a cat in a bag). What's coming is going to be (to quote 2001-2010 A Space Odyssey) "something wonderful". What this means is that video/audio/chat communication as we know it now is going to spawn a brand new style of communication.

What is it? I don't even think that Apple, Google, Facebook, ATT, Verizon, Telefónica, etc. even know. But I believe that through good, fair and just (note the emphasis) competition a new protocol is on its way. Imagine any of the audio/video communication systems predicted in the 20th century, from Trek to the present. And it will be better than that.

And it will cost you all up the nose! And I hope that the advertising jingle is gonna come back. 'Cause the yelling and screaming commercials are getting to me. ;0)

BZ.