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Sony unveils Internet-based phone service...

Zim Hosein

Zim Hosein

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Super Moderator
NEW YORK ? Sony on Wednesday announced a free Internet-based phone service similar to the popular computer-to-computer calling provided by Skype, but with an emphasis on video conferencing.
Called IVE for "Instant Video Everywhere," the service relies on Windows-based software that can be downloaded from the Internet. It will also ship with Sony's new line of Vaio BX laptops, which feature built-in video cameras.

Like Skype, IVE also will feature a premium service that lets users dial traditional wireline phones and cellphones from their computers. The monthly fee of $9.95 for the premium service includes a 10-digit phone number so IVE users can receive calls from regular and mobile phones.

The service, created in collaboration with GlowPoint Inc., marks the latest attempt at delivering a "picture phone" for the consumer market.

The concept, first introduced by AT&T Corp. at the 1964 World's Fair and unsuccessfully marketed in the seventies, reappeared during the dot-com era as high-speed Internet connections made live video connections accessible to a wide audience.

While Internet portals such as Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL have long offered a video option with their instant-messaging services, few users have availed themselves.

More recently, Skype Technologies SA has been promising to introduce a video version of its hugely popular voice service by the end of 2005. In fact, in a separate announcement Wednesday, a company named Yak Communications also launched a free Internet calling service that incorporates video.

Sony's alliance with Hillside, N.J.-based Glowpoint expands on an Internet video-conferencing service for business that the companies launched in June to complement Sony's equipment.

This doesn't mean that Sony Electronics wants to be a telephone company.

"We are a manufacturing company that sells hardware ... we're not going to become a voice telephony provider," said Eric Murphy, vice president of video conferencing at Sony Electronics.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Sony unveils Internet-based phone service

Okay, who's gonna trust Sony "branded" software these days! 😕
 
Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
The concept, first introduced by AT&T Corp. at the 1964 World's Fair and unsuccessfully marketed in the seventies, reappeared during the dot-com era as high-speed Internet connections made live video connections accessible to a wide audience.
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Holy crap!
 
after that whole fiasco with their rootkit for DRM etc etc etc...i don't know if i'd go for anything made by sony again.
 
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