MSN Outlines Voice, Video Strategy
MSN's communication services vice president Blake Irving is expected to outline the communications strategy for voice and video services within Windows Live on Thursday, saying it would work with its partners to bring "a complete presence- and contact-centric communications experience."
In comments to be given at a afternoon keynote at the Spring 2006 VON Conference and Expo in San Jose, California, Blake will outline how the company plans to integrate voice and video into the various Windows Live properties.
"Voice and video will play a critical role as a data type that brings relationships to life online, taking us from an era of black and white to Technicolor," he said.
MSN has seen a rapid increase in the use of voice and video services over the past six months through its Messenger client. The service set records in January, with hosted voice sessions totaling 800 million minutes, 1.1 billion video minutes, and 7 billion minutes of standalone webcam usage.
Almost ten percent of Messenger's total customer base of 205 million now uses the voice and video functions of the client.
However, Irving argued that there is room to grow, and they plan to do so through Windows Live. "Our mission with Windows Live is to deepen people's relationships with whomever and whatever matters most to them," he explained.
In the upcoming Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta, users would be able to right click on contacts within e-mails to start PC-to-PC or PC-to-phone voice and video conversations. In Windows Live Search, voice functionality would be integrated so users could place phone calls to search results from their PC.
Iriving also noted that Microsoft was working with partners such as Philips and Uniden America to bring Windows Live Messenger-compatible phones to the market. These phones would connect to the PC, allowing the choice of PC-to-PC or PC-to-phone calling, as well as traditional calling through a landline service provider.
In all cases, Irving said Microsoft's Windows Live Contacts would bring everything together. He explained there are more than 13 billion contacts in online address books, and the goal is to enable people to be able to take instant action on their contacts across any of the Live services.
"Voice and video remain a central 'action' in our Windows Live vision of enabling rich, seamless and simplified connections that make people's online world better," he said.