Skype Comes to TV, Couch Time Chat
Posted by dougie
Filed under: Internet | Tags: LG, Panasonic, Skype, Television
Bookmark this on DeliciousSkype recently teamed up with Panasonic and LG Electronics – and are going to recreate the Skype experience… in your living room.
During this weeks Consumer Electronic Show, Skype has announced a recent partnership with LG and Panasonic. Both of these companies will offer Skype-enabled HDTVs during 2010. This means we will be able to make Skype calls, with the new 2010 editions of the Panansonic Viera CAST-enabled HDTVs. These will be arriving in stores probably during the spring. LG Electronics will be creating their own Skype enabled sets at CES, also with its product anticipated to enter in mid-2010 as well.
Both companies will also be producing webcams, however as seperate accessories to be plugged into TV sets created solely for the family room Skype experience. The webcams will boast 720p HD, with microphones and optics able to pick up sound and video from user who are at a “couch distance” away from their TV sets.
Skype on your HDTV will be a similar experience to the Skype experience you already know on your PC, so voice and video calls to other Skype users will be free, and you can pay extra for calls to landline and mobile phones.
Moving Skype from your PC to your mobile appliance and soon to your PC seems simple. Its also the next rational move in the Internet ñ TV movement, and creates an experience that that is arguably as or more entertaing and appealing to users than the present abilities supported by internet enabled products.
In preperation for the big reveailing, Skype have created a user friendly information website and a Twitter account (@skypeonyourtv). If you are attending CES, you will be able to watch demonstrations of new Skype-enabled HDTVs at booth the Panasonic and LG booths.
Skype, today, shortly after 
