This morning, the spark of human optimism known as Loic Le Meur was given a new ASUS videophone by Skype, and he loved it:
It's a significant event for me for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it's a great example of seeding because Loic's so positive about technology. He's an influencer, in a day when Duncan Watts, Mark Earls, and others are making a case for a flatter social plane, especially for technology adoption. (Congratulations to We Are Social, who even get a namecheck during the video for the seeding.) Loic's influencer credentials are just about perfect. As founder of Seesmic, he is one of the biggest voices in videoblogging and video communities. I really do believe that it's a combination of influencers and mass that ignite conversations.
It gives me reassurance that we are doing the right thing as we launch a social media consultancy in London, Radar DDB, led by two pioneers in the space, Matthew Yeomans and Bernhard Warner. Radar DDB is a mini-network of social media experts popping up inside of Tribal DDB's, with offices already established in Canada and the US. It's an exciting time at 12 Bishop's Bridge, and if you're a social media conversationalist looking for an adventure, we're hiring.
Secondly, it marks the end of the journey for the videophone, something that Bell Labs engineers dreamt up for AT&T in the 1950's and never got to work as a business. It took just another two decades for a virtual software-driven telephone service provider (Skype), to team up with a Taiwanese laptop manufacturer (ASUS) to make a usable device that people will buy. (I won't even get into the analogue videophones that AT&T sold for $4000 each into the late 1990's.)
At just under £220, I'm not sure that it will be a big seller over this credit crunch holiday season. But given that its interface is gadgetphobic friendly and its easy setup will warm the cockles of the heart of any 'domestic remote administrator' (you know exactly who you are), I predict more than a few grandparents will get these as gifts.
If it's popular enough, this device will be hacked. Seesmic plug-ins might find their way on there. (It's too late to speak of plug-ins for the great and soon to be late Yahoo! Live). Maybe our Tribal Beta team will have a bash if enough people buy it.
Then again this might be just a hiccup before the eventual move to mobile videophones, which deserves its own post.