ooVoo Blog

ooVoo is on Tumblr and Instagram!!

ooVoo Chris — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 16:04:00 GMT

ooVoo knows what it means to be social on video chat. Facebook, Twitter, ooVoo Blog…….WE.ARE.ON them. And now we’ve added Tumblr and Instagram to the mix. Check out the happenings at the ooVoo office and in New York City, reblogs of our users at play, asleep, in song and dance and so much more In addition, Tumblr and Instagram followers get a sneak peek on what is new in the ooVoo service – and we get to listen to the feedback from our best users!

If you want to be a part of ooVoo’s social community fan or follow us:
https://www.facebook.com/oovoo
https://twitter.com/#!/ooVoo
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/oovoo
Instagram – Search “oovooteam”

WE.ARE.ON!!

ooVoo celebrates the holidays by giving!

ooVoo Chris — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 16:03:00 GMT

What do you get for the person who has everything? The gift of you on ooVoo! And an additional bonus – 3 months of premium video chat service, including 12-way HD video calls, call recording, HD video and a ton of other cool features. This holiday season, ooVoo was on the top of everyone’s giving list with the first ever 3 month free promotion. Thousands of users sent out the gift of ooVoo to their friends and family in December – combined with the number of people reaching out to friends and family on video chat, this marks the highest ever ooVoo usage to date.

ooVoo also celebrated the season with holiday themed video chat ringtones!! Users enjoyed our ooVoo take on the holiday season, including “Jingle Bells Hip-Hop” and “Rock n’Dreidel” We saw over one hundred thousand downloads of these and other holiday themed goodies!

We here at ooVoo hope we made everyone’s holidays more enjoyable by bringing you together with friends and family. Now what do we do for the 2012 holidays to top 2011?

ooVoo Wins Android Mobile App Best of the Year Award by PC Mag

ooVoo Chris — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:41:00 GMT

My team and I were honored to be awarded PC Magazine’s Best of 2011 at their event in NYC this week in NY. ooVoo took home the Gold for the Android Mobile App category, which was a great validation of all of the hard work the ooVoo team has put into making a great product for our users.

While conversing with other companies at the event, both entrenched technologies and start-ups alike, the message was clear: multi-platform is important and quality is king. And we know first-hand that quality is one of the reasons we are growing by leaps and bounds, jumping from 9 million users at year end in 2009 to 35 million today.

Walter Isaacson, author of the best-selling and recently released Steve Jobs biography was a fantastic speaker at the event. Isaacson stressed how Jobs was highly focused (maybe obsessed?) with the intersection of design and technology; at ooVoo, that’s what we strive to reach…the perfect intersection between a design that makes ooVoo a hipper, cooler community than any other video chat service out there and a high quality service that sets us apart from our competition making us the perfect destination to socialize, work, share and just hang out.

Check out more on PC Mag and why they chose ooVoo as the best app for Android Mobile here.

Philippe Schwartz
ooVoo CEO

ooVoo Video Chat: Social Video Goes Mainstream

ooVoo Chris — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:02:00 GMT

Ever since the emergence of video chat, the digital landscape has been quickly reshaping itself to accommodate the next generation of online social interaction. Now over 250 million smartphones, 750 million laptops, and 30 million tablets are equipped with built-in/integrated video cameras and broadband connectivity. Video communication has officially entered the mainstream.

ooVoo has been an industry leader in free multi-point video chat and a pioneer in social video chat. In fact, 70% of ooVoo users tell us the service improves their social life and our users are watching TV, listening to music and spending entire weekends together on ooVoo. Everyday our users are the ones who continue to pioneer and enhance the online social experience -- one video chat window at a time.

It’s an exciting time for the social video chat. With the recent announcement of Facebook’s Skype integration and the launch of Google+, video chatting is more prolific than ever.

ooVoo’s difference?
First, our quality.  ooVoo is crystal clear, HD-quality, cross-platform video chat, whether it’s a one-to-one call or a party of six.  (If social video is the new front porch, what good is it if you can’t actually see the people walking by.)

Secondly, our segment, the majority of which are under 25, does not want their video interaction limited to their friends in only one of their social networks.  In fact, more than 50% of our users meet new people on ooVoo. What they want is a truly independent video chat experience across every platform and the ability to connect to anyone regardless of network affiliation.

These new entrants validate ooVoo's strategy in the social video space and ooVoo has some exciting new products we're launching in July and later this summer which extend that strategy.  We look forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks.

Best,
Phillipe, CEO

ooVoo

ooVoo Goes to Washington and Rocks the House!

ooVoo Chris — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:25:00 GMT

A lot is happening at ooVoo. We have gone from launching our iPhone app last month, to launching the world’s first group video chat for iPad, and now the U.S. House of Representatives announced today that the House has enabled its Wi-Fi network to allow Members (435 of them) and staff to use ooVoo!

“We are pleased to announce that, after working with Republican Leaders and various House stakeholders, Members and staff can now use popular video teleconferencing services within the House network to communicate with constituents. “During a time when Congress must do more with less, we believe that these low-cost, real-time communication tools will be an effective way to inform and solicit feedback from constituents.

We thank the CAO for ensuring that Members and staff can utilize these services while maintaining the necessary level of IT security within the House network, and look forward to identifying additional technological solutions to communication and transparency roadblocks.”

– Joint statement issued June 28, 2011 by Committee on House Administration Chairman Dan Lungren (R-Calif) and House Technology Operations Team Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)

We had known that many Members already used ooVoo to communicate and video chat. Our engineers engaged with the House technology operations team for several months to help bring this usage into compliance. Security was a prime consideration, and after extensive diligence, the evaluation team determined that ooVoo provided the security required for use in the House.   Brogan Taylor, ooVoo’s Vice President for Business and Subscription Sales, headed up the effort. He told me that it was ooVoo’s data encryption that provided the comfort around ooVoo’s security. In addition, each member will be able to use ooVoo’s Enterprise Administration panel to manage specific permissions and security settings such as the abilty to block sending and/or receiving files, disable call recording and force text encryption.

The announcement points out that the House network now supports ooVoo and Skype, with a caveat that Skype users will be limited to video calls on the House’s public WiFi to minimize security risks associated with its peer-to-peer networking. ooVoo has no such restrictions.

The end result is that the electorate will be able to use ooVoo to communicate more effectively with Congress, and Congress will be better able to stay in touch using ooVoo, saving costs and allowing for more fluid communication. FYI… our PR team is spreading the word about ooVoo in the House to press and analyst contacts.
So, now you can say “ooVoo me” on Facebook, on your iPad and to your Congressional Representative!

ooVoo for the iPhone and iPod Touch is now available

ooVoo Chris — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:46:00 GMT

On May 27, 2011 , ooVoo released the much anticipated iOS application to the Apple iTunes Store supporting ooVoo on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. With this release, ooVoo will be one of the first video chat programs to be available on any platform, including PC, Mac, Android and iOS. Unlike Apple’s FaceTime, ooVoo iOS users can video chat on both 3G and WiFi which allows users to video chat anytime, anywhere. ooVoo is also the first video chat application to bring 6 way video calling to mobile devices. The application also allows users access to their favorite features including text chat, voice calling to mobile and landline phones and the ability to invite contacts right from your phone.

Within 48 hours of the release ooVoo immediately became one of the top 10 free apps for iOS and the #1 free app in the social networking category. We were also reviewed by over 800 users as well as Gigaom and Ubergizmo.

ooVoo first unveiled video chat for iOS at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February of 2011. In the 3^rd quarter of 2011 they will be releasing an application fully supporting the iPad. This application will utilize the entire screen as well as improving the features available.

You can download ooVoo for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch from the iTunes store.

ooVoo brings American Idol fans together for the finale.

ooVoo Chris — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:36:00 GMT

We hope you’re all excited to tune into American Idol’s finale on Wednesday night. Lady Gaga and Stevie Nicks will be performing – there’s no doubt it’s going to be an impressive performance.

Did you know 15% of ooVoo-ers surveyed last week said they were going to watch Idol while on ooVoo? To make sure that you can video chat and talk about your favorite idols, make reaction videos and share all the Idol gossip with friends and family, ooVoo has extended 6-way video chat to all users through the end of May. So get on ooVoo and make it a night with your bffs.

For those fans looking to meet other people other Idol lovers to ooVoo with, visit our facebook fanpage and post your ooVoo ID…

Update on ooVoo for the iPhone!

ooVoo Chris — Sat, 14 May 2011 19:25:00 GMT

I am happy to let you know the ooVoo app for iPhone and iPod Touch was approved by iTunes! Before we release, we’re busy testing to be certain that we can deliver on the greatest social video chat experience available in the market.

One of ooVoo’s long standing promises to our users has been quality. We pride ourselves on bringing you, our fans, the best, clearest video and audio quality. Our release for April was delayed because our quality standards were not met. It was a tough decision to delay a product our fans have been asking for, and to miss our target launch of April. We did so because we want to release only the best experience.

I speak for the entire ooVoo team when I say that waiting was the right decision. When we release, I believe we will have an application that will bring the best mobile video chat to the iPhone/iPod Touch, and allowing you, our users to video chat anywhere you are on any phone or tablet to any PC or Mac.

This week we launched the iPhone compatible Mac and PC desktop upgrades. These latest versions are needed to see your friends on iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad2. To download this for free, visit our download page.

I thank you again for your patience and I look forward to bringing you ooVoo on your iPhone/iPod!

Best,

Phillipe, CEO

ooVoo

Cinco de Mayo Promo: Earn video credits for inviting friends

ooVoo Chris — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:21:00 GMT

Need another reason to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? ooVoo is celebrating Cinco de Mayo by giving $5 in ooVoo video credit when you invite 5 friends who register to video chat. Show your friends and family how you celebrate the holiday whether it’s playing Mexican Jumping Beans or sharing your recipe for chile relleno. For those users who are of the legal age, go ahead and show your friends what cerveza you are drinking.All this talk about Cinco de Mayo is making us hungry and thirsty for some pico de gallo and a Corona.

If your friends or family are not on ooVoo you can invite them to join or simply send them your web video call link.

Philippe – CEO, ooVoo

ooVoo launches national Live Līve campaign

ooVoo — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 07:25:00 GMT

In honor of our "enth-ooVoo-ists" who use ooVoo every day, all day, ooVoo is launching an awareness campaign around our mobile video chat application currently available on best-selling Android smartphones, including the HTC Evo 3G & 4G, Samsung Galaxy S GT-i900, Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.0, and T-Mobile MyTouch 4G. Live Līve is about users having honest, real interaction in real time. And we love letting people get caught up in the moment, no matter how big or small it really is. To Live Līve, we give our users the option to live unedited, and in the moment, wherever they are!

The ooVoo Team

ooVoo Brings the Big Basketball Championship to Fans

ooVoo — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:18:00 GMT

Hosted by College Basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb, ooVoo brings the debate around who will win the basketball championship to fans and ooVoo enthusiasts. With sports writers from each of the remaining schools arguing and talking smack about their schools, anybody’s bet is who will make history. Will smack-talk lead to smack-down? Watch the local experts trade verbal blows before the remaining teams meet on the court. Tune in on ooVoo’s Facebook Fan Page for more info…. Don’t miss it!

The ooVoo Team

ooVoo Responds to Crisis in Japan

ooVoo — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:34:00 GMT

As many of you know, the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan wiped out telecommunications throughout most of the country, but internet connectivity is still widely available. To help those in need of getting in touch with family and friends ooVoo is giving all of our users in Japan a $10 credit for calls to landline and mobile phones to get in touch with their loved ones outside of Japan. Please notify those you know using ooVoo in Japan their account has already been updated. We will also give credits to new users in Japan until March 31, 2011.

The ooVoo Team

ooVoo makes 3 way video chat FREE to all users

ooVoo — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:33:00 GMT

ooVoo has taken another step in giving users another reason to love us as their video chat provider by announcing FREE 3 way video chat for all their users. Previously ooVoo was free for one on one video chats - now you can video chat with 2 other friends while on a web video chat for FREE!! And you can enjoy the same great video and voice quality regardless of the number of people on the call. Compared with other services, ooVoo is currently the only desktop video chat service that allows its free users to have a multi-party video conference with three people at one time. In addition, we've also made some positive changes to our premium plans, including adding up to 500 phone minutes for calling landline and mobile phones, additional video call windows, lower pricing and much more. View all of ooVoo's plans.

ooVoo Team

2011 Mobile World Congress: ooVoo unveils HD and iPhone app

ooVoo — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:24:00 GMT

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was more than just tapas and bullfights. ooVoo CEO Philippe Schwartz provided a live demo of the application – making ooVoo the first video chat provider to make multi-point video calling on both Windows OS and iOS devices a reality. And, since ooVoo users can make mobile video calls over 3G, 4G, and WiFi, this means ooVoo is officially connecting more people on more devices, more of the time than any other video chat service. Using the iTouch, Philippe was able to demonstrate a live chat simultaneously connecting people on PC, Mac, and Android-based smartphones. Check out some of our reviews on the Chip Chick blog, as well as a live interview with Philippe on InformationWeek. The official release date for the iPhone/iTouch app and mobile-compatible desktop Mac software is early April.
We also showcased the first HD multi-point video chat – live at the Qualcomm booth, leveraging Qualcomm Incorporated’s Snapdragon MDP. This partnership in technology is especially ideal for video chat on tablets – delivering a video experience that is four times the video resolution of anything else in market.

ooVoo Team

Snow Days Promo: FREE 3-way video chat for 30 days!

ooVoo — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:32:00 GMT

Let’s face it, with all the snow on the East Coast these days, it’s getting harder and harder to stay warm these days… It’s the kind of weather that makes you think twice about going out and meeting people. Do you ever catch yourself looking at an Evite and thinking “is my niece/best friend Bob/Mom really worth it?” Our solution: stay warm and toasty next to your space heater and let ooVoo's video chat help you stay close to friends and family instead! For the next 30 days, ooVoo is offering unlimited 3-way video calling for FREE for 30 days! Got friends who are still not video calling on ooVoo? No problem, send your personal web video call link and have a live web chat.

OK, so it’s not an all expenses paid trip to Cancun, but we guarantee no sunburn… Enjoy!

Philippe -
CEO, ooVoo

1/10/2011