Mobile and TV Video Calls to Reach Over 11 Billion by 2015
June 7, 2010 (San Francisco) — With video chat for smartphones on the horizon in the U.S. and low-cost video chat software, such as Skype, going into TVs, the overall consumer video communication market is set to explode in the new few years, according to a new report from GigaOM Pro. While the vast majority of video chats today take place on traditional computers, mobile and TV-based video communications will account for over 11 billion of the nearly 30 billion video calls made in 2015.
In mobile, much of the action will be driven by high-end smartphones with forward facing cameras and video chat software. Since carriers will initially be hesitant about the bandwidth load of video communications, much of the initial video chat will traverse Wi-Fi networks rather than 3G or 4G mobile broadband. However, since some carriers will see additional revenue opportunities, they will allow for premium video chat capabilities for additional subscription fees.
While TV-based video chat was a futuristic dream just a year ago, LG and Panasonic’s announcements (later followed by Samsung’s) of Skype-enabled HDTVs at CES made it clear that living room–based video chat was much closer to becoming a reality. Factor in Google’s possible incorporation of video chat into the recently announced Google TV platform, and soon consumers will start to see living room-based video communications capabilities on a range of displays.
“From high-end providers, such as Cisco and its consumer telepresence strategy, to Skype and Google TV on the low-end, there will be a range of potential options for consumers in coming years to take advantage of video chat in their homes on high-quality displays,” said Alfred Poor, GigaOM Pro analyst and owner of the HDTV Almanac.
The report, entitled “Can You See Me Now?: The New World of Consumer Visual Communications,” is a comprehensive analysis of the video communications and chat market across the TV, mobile and computer markets. It examines key market players, such as Skype, Google, Cisco, Apple and others, and includes comprehensive subscriber, usage and revenue forecasts through 2015.
Download a copy of this release here.
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Contacts
- Michael Wolf, VP of Research
- Alfred Poor, Author
