Janus Friis, Co-Founder, Skype, rolled a new communication app “Wire”, which is available now for iOS, Android and Mac. The new app “Wire” contains in itself most of the aspects that users don’t pay attention to – advanced file sharing (compression and delivery), media processing and several other units which have been bought to us.
Wire packs in it a clean, nothing of “not-in-use” simple design which will likely gather attention of wide mass of users.
Skype is no doubt on of the leading and trusted application when it comes to user end, but however, the technology it uses is quite old for now. Call quality issues, synchronization, connectivity problems are forever pertinent problems which still have no certain solution!
“Skype was launched more than a decade ago. A lot has changed since then – we are all used to free calls and texting, and we have taken to carrying our computers in our pockets,” said Friis in a statement about Wire’s launch.
To be honest, Wire is not the only attempt at bringing out a new technology for communication. Even the team Skype at Microsoft rebuilt on its take on a modern Skype with a new app called Qik, which was launched recently.
The team behind Wire is strong though, with people having deep background in communications. In addition, including people who worked previously with Apple, Skype, Nokia and Microsoft.
Jonathon Christensen, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder behind Wire, has been in Internet communication for 15 years and previous records include his works on MSN Messenger and Lync at Microsoft. Ahan, not stopped yet. Later on, being Co-founded audio processing software company namely Camino Network, which was later acquired by Skype.
Co-Founder Alan Duric also co-founded Camino Network, as well as Telio, a VoIP company similar to Vonage. Priido Zilmer, who previously led design teams at Vdio and Skype, led the product design at Wire.
Also, Wire’s Chief Scientist Koen Vos created the audio compression format SILK and co-created the audio coding format OPUS.
The question is still between an abyss and sea: Is Wire a replacement for Skype?
Well, No.
^Not for today though.
The application is available for both mobile and desktop. It provides the utility of sharing text, pictures, GIFs, HD audio and other rich media, including contents from SoundCloud and YouTube. But the problem arises when it comes to the sharing of videos. Yes, it lacks video sharing support. Neither for real-time video chats or saved recordings.
The company plans to add the feature as soon as possible along with including the support for HTML5 and several other #premium features which will be available after user payments.
The most interesting feature of the Wire app is its “elegant” design, which is the matter of appeal for younger users as well as non-technical users. With the provision to use gesture based controls, the feature adds to the beauty of the app use. Most likely gesture uses are swiping up and down the screen for contact lists, etc.
Although several users may not find this more interesting, the app gives the usage tutorial after installation for further usage.
The focus this time is on the usage of the app, file sharing and messaging; rather than the app itself which holds on to user’s priority, almost disappearing in the background.The app also has smart features, for example; it sorts the contacts on the top by listing the ones at first which you interact with the most.
The company said no word for the amount of funding from Friis and Iconical.com ( a collection of engineers, executives and designers which serves as a new, non – VC model for investments including Aether (Cone), Rdio, Vivino, Vicarious and others.).
“We looks at every single aspect of the landscape,” said Christensen. “We had the context and history having been in this for quite a long time and having seen the pain points,” he says. “We took all of them apart, rebuilt them the way they should be built…we hope.”
Original article at Techcrunch.com.
