The landscape has changed however. Instead of video calling services that act like regular phone calls on the same cellular networks, a number of video-specific services have cropped up before and after FaceTime: Skype, Google Talk, Qik, and Tango, just to name a few. As more handsets and tablets gain cameras for video chat, you’d think this activity would skyrocket. But it doesn’t seem to be, at least not when compared to other mobile activities such as apps, web browsing, messaging and social networking.

Why is that? I can think of a few reasons. First and possibly the biggest obstacle is that many of these services aren’t cross-platform. You can only use FaceTime with other FaceTime users, for example. Qik — recently purchased by Skype — and Tango are the exceptions here; indeed Tango now works across iOS, Android and Windows Phone handsets.

Connectivity is another potential issue, as some services only run over Wi-Fi networks. And those that do work on 3G or 4G mobile broadband networks could quickly eat up a user’s allotment of monthly data on a tiered or capped data plan. Lastly, it could be — at least in the U.S. — that consumers just aren’t used to video calling or feel the need to do so while mobile.

I suspect that will change over time as our communication will be a mixed recipe with text messaging, voice calls and video chats as the ingredients. I’ve embraced it as a richer experience with my son, who doesn’t live with me.

Regardless of the slow video calling uptake, I know that some of our readers are using such services. I’m curious as to which are most used, given the limitations of both networks and lack of cross-platform support in some. I’ve left room in the poll for those who don’t use mobile video calling, so in the comments, let me know why you don’t.

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The milestone comes as Qik introduces its premium mobile services on Android, bringing over a set of features that first appeared on the iPhone earlier this summer. With Qik Premium, which costs $4.99 a month, users will be able to get unlimited video storage, easy video management and sharing via a desktop application that syncs videos from a mobile device, as well as video mail. Android users will also get the ability to record and send HD and 3D video if their handsets support it.

Qik’s growth is being led by video chatting, which has tripled since the beginning of this year, and video recording, which has almost doubled in the same period. Bhaskar Roy, Qik co-founder and senior VP of product development, said the company has grown in part by embracing all kinds of video communications, not just video conferencing. He said some people like to share recorded videos, while others like to stream to the web. Some like to video chat in real time while others are happy to send video mail.

“We don’t box people into how they use our product and I think that’s one of the key things to our success is this flexibility of how you want to share moments through video,” Roy said.

Roy said Qik remains independent from Skype due to Qik’s deep relationships with carriers and manufacturers. But he said over time, Qik will marry its products and technology together with Skype. By that time, Qik will also be part of Microsoft, which is in the process of buying Skype for $8.5 billion.

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Skype senior staff David Gurlé, Christopher Dean, Russ Shaw, Don Albert, Doug Bewsher, and Anne Gillespie are leaving Skype or have left. (Skype Journal)

Bloomberg News reports that Ramu Sunkara and Allyson Campa who joined the company as part of the Qik acquisition have been let go. Bloomberg also says that senior executives have been “cut” because it is “a move that reduces the value of their payout.”

If that is indeed the case, this is a pretty short sighted strategy and it is only going to make integration of Skype into Microsoft more difficult. It seems that this is a pennywise, pound foolish kind of a move, that in the end is going to erode the value of the Skype franchise.

If Skype hits an air pocket, a lot of companies are waiting to pick up the slack. Nimbuzz, for example, already has 50 million users. Google has been becoming bolder with its GoogleVoice offering, even though it is still very US centric.

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Qik had previously launched a video chat app on handsets from Sprint, T-Mobile, Samsung, HTC and Motorola. But Video Connect, which just launched on the broader Android market, will allow any user with Android version 2.1 or above to use the service. According to the latest Android platform numbers, that includes more than 90 percent of all devices running the mobile OS.

The new app faces increasing competition in the mobile video chat market, as startups like Tango and larger players like Yahoo Instant Messenger  court users with new apps that let them chat with friends and family from anywhere.

Apple got the ball rolling by introducing its FaceTime video chat offering on the iPhone 4 last year, and later extending the service to the fourth generation iPod touch, Mac computers and new iPad 2 tablets. Skype, which acquired Qik earlier this year, has introduced its own mobile app, which connects with its PC video chat offering. And tiny startup Vtok has introduced an app that allows mobile iOS users to video chat with their Google Talk contacts.

The problem with these apps is that none of them work together — which means users can only chat with friends on existing networks. That could be a limiting factor in mobile video chat adoption. Just as the SMS market didn’t take off until mobile users could text between different mobile carriers, video chat services could also see their growth limited by lacking of interoperability. Given its already large user base and technology it acquired in the Qik acquisition, Skype might be in the best position to change this by opening video chat capabilities with other app makers. But whether or not Skype will open to others — or try to leverage its market clout — is still an unanswered question, and one that could shape the mobile video chat segment.

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In a post on the Skype blog, CEO Tony Bates said Qik’s video technology was complementary to what Skype already offered users. The acquisition will help accelerate Skype’s embrace of the mobile video market, as Qik is already available on more than 200 mobile phones running Android, iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile, according to the blog post.

We reported last month that Skype was actively hiring Android and iOS developers to advance its mobile video chat efforts. Since then, the company has been busy with the launch of a major update to its iOS app that enables video chat with other Skype users from their iPhones.

Mobile devices aren’t the only gadgets Skype is busy integrating with. Skype also announced at CES that later this year, Sony Bravia and Vizio TVs will join the ranks of Skype-enabled chat devices. Panasonic and Samsung already sell Skype-enabled televisions, a product launched at last year’s CES. Sony and Panasonic will also soon be offering those not looking to upgrade their televisions an upcoming Skype-enabled Blu-ray player and webcam to bring the service to the big screen.

Skype has become a valuable communication tool for users and companies alike as it takes over the long distance market. But video chat is clearly the future for the company, with more than 40 percent of all Skype chat minutes taking place over video.

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Comcast-NBCU Hearings Will Be Streamed; spokespeople for both the FCC and the House Communications subcommittee said they will stream both the subcommittee hearing on July 8 and an FCC forum on July 13. (Multichannel News)

Streaming TV Network ‘This Week In’ Doubles Show Lineup; just six weeks after its official launch, This Week In has doubled its show lineup to 15 and delivered on its promise to expand beyond technology programming. (press release)

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Peace Corps Launches Video Contest; the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) is running a video contest in celebration of its 50th anniversary, asking volunteers to submit one- to two-minute videos about how the Peace Corps changed their lives. (Peace Corps Connect)

I was happy to lend a hand with Laptop’s testing, and had a series of video chats with them so they could capture them on video. The comparison is up and Laptop has published three videos of the test sessions for your information. Overall the video quality of Qik is better than that of Fring, but Qik has a weird handling of audio that you’ll have to see to understand.

Image credit: Laptop Magazine

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The Pro application not only adds to the real-time visual effects that Qik made possible in its Video Camera application back in January, but ensures they don’t interfere with the quality of the video recording. It also does a better job of keeping audio and video in sync, an issue in other live-streaming apps.

The newest effect, which Qik calls PhotoMix, enables users to select a picture and add it directly into the video during recording. This way users can change the backdrop of their videos or even use still images as pre-rolls or bumpers before jumping straight into a video recording. In addition to PhotoMix, Qik includes a number of other effects, most of which work by changing the color or focus of the video. These include: red only, avatar, mirror, lens, twirl, x-ray, black & white and sepia. The application also enables users to zoom or adjust the brightness of their videos while recording.

The Qik Pro app has all the usual social sharing functionality, including the ability to share recordings on Qik, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, as well as by email. But the new version sidesteps the problem of sharing with some networks that don’t support longer videos. Rather than attempting to upload videos directly to those networks, the new Qik app uploads them to a secure server farm from which they can be linked or embedded.

Finally, the app allows easy access to videos from the desktop by integrating the Qik-in-Touch feature, with which users can easily download videos from their phone to their computer. To do so, they need only connect to their iPhone through any web browser, and their recordings will be available.

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