Skype Buys Qik for Mobile Video Streaming

Skype bought Qik which will help the company provide mobile video streaming to smart phones. The video will be streamed in real time, which is an important feature to offer because most smartphones however offer video chat.

The financial details of the deal were not released when the announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The chief exec Tony Bates said, "Mobile and video are becoming the way to communicate. We as a matter of fact think we've reached a tipping point with video." About 40 percent of Skype calls were video last year, and overall the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) company handled near 25 percent of all international phone call minutes.

He is right. People not only use their smartphones to video chat, now they as well use their desktop and laptop computers or tablets. In short, the videophones we all dreamed about as children have appeared. Are they like you thought they would be? Qik will complement Skype's service, and the company will not have to build its own service for video chat, which will save a lot of time and effort.

In addition to purchasing Qik, Skype as well launched a group service that will allow group video calls from desktops or other mobile devices that are linked to the Internet. This could be huge for business conference calls. The monthly subscription fee for this group video calling feature is a mere $8.99 a month.