New SkypeKit Solution Avoids Desktop Apps

Updated: January 07, 2011

Skype has just announced completion of SkypeKit SDK, a UI-free engine which allows Skype to be built directly into virtually any Internet-connected device, including desktops, TVs, and notebooks. One writer on TMC.net, in an article titled “SkypeKit Adds Skype to Just About Anything,” described the new product as

“a 'headless' version of Skype - that is, a Skype client with no user interface that runs invisibly, not only on PCs, but also TVs, notebooks, and other connected devices...developers communicate with SkypeKit through the SkypeKit API, surfacing Skype calls through their own applications.”

SkypeKit is designed to eventually replace Skype's longstanding Skype Public API, which connects to standard Skype deskktop applications. SkypeKit includes Skype's super wideband SILK-codec-based audio. It also includes nearly all of Skype's familiar communication, presence, and profile management features through SkypeKit based APIs, and several new capabilities including the ability to tailor individual audio and visual interfaces. Multiparty video calling capability, however, is not included in the first release.

SkypeKit will initially be available as a beta by invitation only. According to Skype's website, consumer electronics makers and software developers can register for invitations as of June 23. SkypeKit will be available for Panasonic, Samsung, and LG Internet televisoins, Linux, x86 Windows, and Mac OS X, and all developers using SkypeKit will be able to describe their products as “plugged into Skype.”

Skype sees the SkypeKit SDK as a small stage of a broader campaign to make voice and video calling more accessible. As the website says, “At Skype, we believe that every connected device is, potentially, a communications device.”& Whether or not SkypeKit will really be able to connect Skype to "Just About Anything," the product represents an impressive development in Skype communications.
 

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