Last week, the world’s most used instant messaging service WhatsApp added a new feature to its already popular platform. The Facebook-owned company launched a video calling facility which allows users to see others while talking. Just a few months earlier in August, Internet giant Google launched its brand new video calling app called Duo. A month later in September, Reliance Jio went commercial with its telecom services bundling free access to its video calling application JioChat.
“Skype, which has been the leader in the space for many years will take a huge hit as users shift to mobile,” says Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst and CEO, Greyhound Research. “The biggest winner will be WhatsApp because people need one platform for voice, text and video and would no more download multiple apps to do these things separately. While Facetime is popular on iOS, its lack of cross-platform support makes its adoption limited.”
“As 4G goes mainstream, video calling on mobile makes sense now more than ever. Combine that with better quality phone cameras and you get the kind of experience you could previously get only on desktops. That’s spurring the battle for video chat applications,” Gogia said.
Source: Hindu Business Line