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Orlando, Florida, March 27, 2007
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has announced that wireless customers will soon be able to use their phones to share live video and audio of the moments in their lives — the sublime, the silly and everything in between — using an innovative 3G service called Video Share, which is available only from AT&T. The service will be rolled out this summer in more than 50 markets in the U.S.
Video Share, which is being shown in the AT&T booth at the CTIA Show in Orlando, allows users to send a live video stream to a recipient during a standard voice call. Beginning with a normal wireless phone call, customers can hit one button to add a live video stream, allowing the called party to see what the caller is seeing while they’re talking. The service also allows customers to switch the direction of the video stream during the same phone call. Customers must be in an area served by the company’s 3G network and have a Video Share-enabled phone.
“Video Share is a major breakthrough that delivers the future of wireless now,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chief operating officer. “It will let our customers use their mobile devices to stay connected to the important people in their lives in exciting new ways. Video Share creates an interactive experience of sight and sound that transforms the way people communicate.”
For example, a real estate agent in San Antonio could use Video Share to show prospective relocating clients an apartment in New York City. While the New York agent is showing the apartment, the clients can immediately tell the agent to show them the kitchen again or scan the view outside the front window, all in real time and saving travel time and expenses in the process.
AT&T recently polled wireless consumers about Video Share. More than two-thirds of them identified some of the things they most like about the service:
* Sharing. Consumers can share special moments with family and friends as they are happening.
* Like being there. Consumers can be in one place and see and hear what is happening in another.
* Advice. Consumers can ask advice/get quick decisions based on the scenario presented.
* Expressing themselves. Consumers are able to stream live video of themselves during a phone call.
The Video Share demonstrations at the show are running on AT&T’s 3G UMTS/HSDPA (Universal Mobile Telephone System/High Speed Downlink Packet Access) network in Orlando and use its recently deployed IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem) platform.
In the near future, the company will provide information on markets where Video Share will be available and on pricing and devices.
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