Sky Live Glass Camera Launch

[CardiffMan1992]

@Pistonhead 

The bosses at zoom have come out and said there will be a TVOS app at launch of update so not going be limited for too long sounds like it's open to anyone who wants use the system not Apple keeping it to themselves only. 

[Pistonhead]

@CardiffMan1992 Good to hear, but that sounds like it'll make it even more of a challenge for Sky Live to sell in large numbers.

[Chrisee]

@CardiffMan1992 I think you will find there is only a small overlap between Sky's and Apple's target customers. However that Apple are planning to target the video calling market is interesting as they have data from Facetime which I use a lot myself and that tends to support Sky's reasoning of launching Sky Live now.

Allowing cross platform calling  is vital so that Sky use of Zoom is logical as it has apps for most platforms as you point out.  They could have included Teams which has taken a lot of the market growth but I assume thst they consider that business use will be small.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chrisee wrote:

 They could have included Teams which has taken a lot of the market growth but I assume thst they consider that business use will be small.

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Getting Teams hardware certification is legendarily tortuous, and there's also the slight obstacle of using a Sky television subscription for business purposes.

One of the 'hands-on' I was reading this morning mentioned Glass plus Live would conceivably be a rather good (and relatively budget) Teams Rooms device, but unfortunately that's not allowed.

[Chrisee]

Good point on hardware certification @TimmyBGood but Teams have lifted a lot of the traffic Zoom had during the pandemic hence the drop in their market share. Perhaps Sky Business may market the Live kit for video conferencing at some point.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chrisee wrote:

 Teams have lifted a lot of the traffic Zoom had during the pandemic hence the drop in their market share.

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Absolutely: we did that here because we were already paying for Teams through the 365 licencing.

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@Chrisee wrote:

 Perhaps Sky Business may market the Live kit for video conferencing at some point.

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I can definitely see a potential market because dedicated Teams Rooms hardware is stupidly expensive.  Unfortunately quite a lot of that price is the fee paid to Microsoft just to use the logo.

[Adam-93]

The price of the camera is ludicrous.

As others have already said, it's much cheaper for iPhone users to buy a brand-new Apple TV and use FaceTime/Zoom on that. 

[Jporch316]

@Adam-93 

the beauty of skys model is it's only £5 a month on a deal if you already have glass not £200 up front plus an iPhone on apple 

[TimmyBGood]

Sky press release has landed:

https://www.skygroup.sky/en-gb/article/introducing-sky-live-the-new-interactive-camera-from-sky 

[82bit]

Judging by the comments over on Facebook, most people just consider this "only £5 a month so why not". Quite clever pricing strategy from Sky in this regard. I paid in full because frankly the thought of paying for this thing for the next two, or even four years is a bit nuts. 

I wonder if we're paying primarily for access to the services, rather than for the cost of the hardware? 

[TimmyBGood]

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@82bit wrote:

I wonder if we're paying primarily for access to the services, rather than for the cost of the hardware? 

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Probably both, but there are clues (such as the HDMI feed) that it's really quite a powerful device with headroom for future development, and not just a 'better' webcam.

Given the earlier Sky information indicated it was originally intended to be USB-C only, to me that suggests some serious revisions have been made since it was conceived (which could also be why it's taken so long ; )

[82bit]

Delivery due today! Quite impressive! 

[Adam-93]

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@Jporch316 wrote:

@Adam-93 

the beauty of skys model is it's only £5 a month on a deal if you already have glass not £200 up front plus an iPhone on apple 

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Sure for someone who doesn't already have a feature like this, it could be great.

But as I said, if someone already owns an iPhone, an Apple TV is a much better value option, along with many more features applicable to people who use FaceTime. 

Plus, the Apple TV is available for £7.16 per month through Apple, and even with interest comes in at £172. Still way cheaper.

[SlenderRobert]

FYI for anyone that's interested in the real-time functionality of Sky Live... this YouTube review is very comprehensive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woEAazsYXek&t=292 

[A+JW]

It does look smoother and a more well rounded offering than I expected.

For me though, it will still come down to adoption.