Facebook's 'awesome' product video chat with Skype
updated 04:15 pm EDT, Fri July 1, 2011
Facebook to have Skype chat with desktop element
Insiders leaked Friday that Facebook's "awesome" new product will be video chat. The service should be built on Skype and, though presumed to be mobile, will work in browser as well. Whether it needs separate Skype software or will be entirely self-contained wasn't evident from TechCrunch's early details.
The addition could partly upend T-Mobile's Bobsled. Its web app is meant for VoIP and not video, but it would let Facebook friends fulfill most of Bobsled's role without having to load a separate web app or use a more proprietary mobile app.
A video service isn't confirmed, but if so it would arrive just a week after Google+ launched with a similar feature. Hangout not only allows two-way chat but groups as large as ten. The simultaneous development likely wasn't intentional but may give Facebook an advantage since it currently has a much larger social network.
