Skype may have video calling deal with ATT soon

Skype consumer product management lead Rick Osterloh on Thursday hinted there would soon be an official video calling deal with AT&T. Having already struck a deal to get Skype's app preloaded on Verizon's LTE phones like the HTC Thunderbolt, and relying on its newly acquired partner Qik's Sprint and T-Mobile deals, the team head made it clear that AT&T was likely to follow up soon. The conversation with PCMag didn't hint as to the exact timing.

"Let's watch out for some announcements there," he said.

Any deal would most likely see a video-capable app preloaded on Android devices that can use AT&T's HSPA+ network and its eventual LTE service. Osterloh hinted that a lot of the work, however, was optimizing the app for the increased bandwidth and lower lag of the network. Skype will soon integrated video mail, live public streaming and other features developed by Qik. The move could see strictly optional apps, such as the iOS app, improved to take advantage of AT&T once the iPad and iPhone can support HSPA+ or better.

Skype already has high-quality video chat on iOS, but it counts primarily on the presence of Wi-Fi. Even on an ideal standard 3G network, Skype is limited both by the available throughput but by inherently much greater lag that hurts chances for natural conversation.

By Electronista Staff