Holiday Gift Guide »

BlackBerry PlayBook Getting Dedicated Video Conferencing App Soon

By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 at 10:45 AM
BlackBerry-PlayBook-Facetim

RIM’s been showing off the music store and podcasts app to launch with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet around the end of the month, but there’s still another surprise in store – a dedicated peer-to-peer video conferencing app, according to RIM VP of enterprise strategy, David Heit. The PlayBook has a front-facing HD-capable 3 megapixel camera which just screams “video calling”, but the only software we’ve heard of potentially powering video calling was Skype, and that was more of a PR mix-up than anything. The idea of RIM launching its own FaceTime-like service with heavy tie-ins to BBM seems like a natural choice, but I’m sure they’ll be eager to get as many third-party video calling apps on board too.

The BlackBerry PlayBook has a second camera on the back, clocking in at 5 megapixels, if you want to show off something in front of you for video calling. The 7-inch 1024 x 600 display will no doubt do good things for displaying callers; who knows, maybe you’ll be able to pump video calls out to your TV through the HDMI-out. I’m curious if the dual-core 1 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM will be able to handle multiple callers, but it wouldn’t be surprising.

No proper screenshots of the app yet, but I’m sure we’ll get a demo before launch. As for when it comes out, it’s possible the Wi-Fi-only PlayBook might support video calling from the onset, but who knows – maybe they’ll hold it back for the HSPA+/WiMAX/LTE versions so carriers can make a buck off the hype.

[via CIO]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • Anonymous

    Simon, the TI OMAP is capable of handling 4-way – 720p video conferencing between 4 mobile devices, it was demoed at MWC2011 and you were at their booth I believe covering Playbook and Tat magic, does Ittiam ring any bells?

  • http://www.intomobile.com/ Simon Sage

    Haha, certainly! Can’t believe I forgot to mention that. I suppose the real question is whether or not we’ll actually see the feature on the PlayBook at launch, regardless of if it’s technically feasible.

  • Reelportal

    I can confirm that RIM does accept third-party video chat app. My ReelPortal app just got approved. The Playbook should be able to handle multiple video streams simultaneously. Some user reported doing a 4 person video conference between a Viewsonic G Tablet (Android) and 3 other PCs, using my software. Given the Playbook has better specs than the G Tablet, it should have no problem.