The rumors and speculation are starting to pour in and the most likely one so far is Facebook to launch Skype video chat this Wednesday. The product will include a desktop component, but it’s not clear if you will need the Skype desktop client or additional software and it will reportedly be an in-browser experience. Video calls would be a logical extension of Facebook chat and Facebook sent out invites for an event next week, where Mark Zuckerberg was clear the outfit would unveil a new product from its Seattle team………..
Word is still out on what awesome new product Facebook plans to unveil on Wednesday and there’s a good hunch floating around that it’s a built-in Skype-powered video chat feature. The press invitations to that event went out saying nothing more than “Please join us for an event at Facebook” on July 6. here is understandably a great deal of speculation surrounding what it might be but there’s one possibility that seems to have struck a chord: Skype-powered video chat built directly into Facebook. This isn’t the main project that team is working on, but next week, says a source with knowledge of the partnership, Facebook will launch a new video chat product, powered by Skype, that works in browser. Suddenly those chat icons in the invitation have a lot more meaning. The product has been built on Skype and will include a desktop component. It’s not clear 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. Facebook and Skype have already been working together, including integration of various Facebook features into the Skype service. But this is something else entirely. The partnership could substantially increase Skype usage. Facebook has more than 750 million active users. Currently Skype has just 170 million. And it will certainly help Facebook become even stickier for users as they start to have voice and video chat as an option to communicate.
