This past summer, over 3000 people were nationally surveyed to find out the importance of video calling online, as well as using cell phones.
Well, the survey results are in folks and it was unveiled that approximately 74 percent of Americans are Internet users, with 23 percent of people who have tried video calling.
Another interesting fact was that 85 percent of adults have cell phones, but only 7 percent of those people have used video calling on their handsets.
Since April 2009 to the summer of 2010, internet users participating in video calling has risen from 20 percent to 23 percent.
As video calling is increasingly becoming more important to our population, wouldn’t it be great to have an immersive video experience that fits into your home, automatically adjusting to lighting conditions and various room sizes to provide superior video and audio performance? How about an experience that is so clear and lifelike that you feel like you are in the same room as your loved ones?
“Video callers” I invite you to experience Cisco ūmi- Welcome to the Future!
On May 13, 2010, we launched the “$10,000 Cisco What If Your TV Could…?” video contest asking consumers “If your TV could do anything, what would you want it to do?”
We received over 175 creative video submissions ranging from your television cooking dinner for you to hologram TV’s. A common video submission theme that we received was a television being a better communications vehicle.
The $10,000 Cisco TV Contest winners were two brothers from Tennessee who rapped about how they wish their television could be their companion, their best friend.
Well, Nick and Zack, Cisco was listening and unveiled the latest consumer product to the market last week in San Francisco- Cisco ūmi™ telepresence (pronounced you-me).
Cisco ūmi allows you to now “get together” with your best friend and experience high definition video calling in the comfort of your very own living room. Whether you are 10 miles away or 5000 miles away, Cisco ūmi makes it easy to connect with your best friend.
So here’s the million dollar question. If you had to choose one best friend to call, who would it be?
Also, check out this video interview with the winners of the $10,000 Cisco TV Contest to hear who they are and what they ended up doing with the grand prize money.
On Wednesday, over 50 business, technology, consumer and broadcast media, as well as industry analysts and bloggers lined up in downtown San Francisco to see what Cisco had in-store for a new consumer experience.
The crowd walked in to see banners surrounding the venue of families sitting together inside of a high definition television and a stage with a box sitting on top of 103 inch HD television. Soon enough, Cisco revealed the latest addition to the Cisco consumer products family, Cisco ūmi, high definition video calling with up to 1080p resolution.
