Cisco unveiled its long-awaited home telepresence product – Cisco ūmi™ (you-me) — publicly for the first time yesterday at an invitation-only media gathering in downtown San Francisco.
The reaction from those lucky enough to experience Cisco ūmi up close was nearly universal – there were some “wows,” plenty of “cools,” and quite a few “when can I get it” reactions.
Like a live Bruce Springsteen concert, you really have to see it, hear it, and feel it, to truly appreciate it. To get a taste of the Cisco ūmi experience, here are some opportunities to check it out:
- Cisco ūmi is scheduled to be available to consumers on November 14 in Best Buy/Magnolia Home Theater stores
- “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will bring people together on the show via Cisco ūmi
- A national advertising campaign featuring Ellen Page, the star of “Juno” and
“Inception.” - A Cisco ūmi mall tour begins Nov. 10 and travels to more than 20 malls across the U.S.
Tags: Cisco umi, TelePresence, ūmi, video
Can’t wait for it to be available for purchase. This is a great product for those of us with distant family.
This is awesome! I’ve been wishing for this for a long time. Is this US only – or will it be available in Europe also?
Feargal,
We have not announced plans to make the product available outside the US.
Jim
I saw the bandwidth requirements for 1080p and 720p, but what happens if my broadband speed is close, but not quite 1.5? Also, what is the minimum bandwidth for SD picture? I wanted to understand if there is a floor bandwidth that the service needs
Yeah, I also can’t wait for it to be available for purchase. I’m excited to see what kind of capabilities umi has, but I know it’ll be slick and sleek if it’s being produced by Cisco. Is there an approximate ETA or price range?
The Cisco ūmi telepresence suggested retail price is $599, plus a $24.99 monthly service fee for unlimited ūmi calls, video messaging and recording.
Cisco ūmi will be available for pre-order on October 6th from umi.cisco.com and on October 18 from bestbuy.com. It will be available to consumers on Nov 14th in Best Buy/Magnolia Home Theater retail stores, bestbuy.com and umi.cisco.com.
wow! newer and better products to choose from without any hassle.
I keep reading about Umi as a home-based teleconferencing tool. What about using it commercially? I would love to be able to have patients sending my Umi video messages not just describing their symptoms but SHOWING them to me also.
This could revolutionize medicine in a lot of ways.
We envision a future where technologies like this will play a role in connecting consumers with businesses to enable the delivery of new services, ranging from education, to health care, to financial services – to the home.
If Umi can also call regular phones for just voice call, then $24.99 monthly service fee is justified. It would be a killer of Vonage.
The device cost if between $300-$400 would be in a sweet spot. A service contract of 2 years or so would be able to reduce and subsidize the device cost with service provider.
Cisco can also create a tiered service plan for say 30/60 calls per month for example at $14.99 for low cost starting point.
Jim, will umi be avaiable for multiple location conferencing ( multiple people talking and seeing all attendees … Brady Bunch screen)? I have been looking in to conducting JA Rhode Island board meetings and school teacher trainings with a new and fun service like this.