The New Skype Qik app

Today, a team within Skype attempts to solve the need of  a Skype app for mobile with the launch of a new video messaging application called Skype Qik, which reimagines how the Skype experience would work if Skype had been built for mobile first.

   

Instead of focusing on live video calls and instant messaging-like chats, Skype Qik is designed around video messaging – that is, mobile video messages you create and share with others who may not be online at the same time as you.

Skype acquired Qik, a video startup, back in 2011. But while some of Qik's team worked on the new apps for Skype Qik, the technologies are entirely different. Qik was about live video streaming while Skype Qik is closer to a video voicemail experience. And the apps launching today have been built from the ground-up with all new code.



The app is simple to use. Users tap the bubbly, pink-ish Skype Qik icon (which resembles that of Skype's blue icon) and are then presented with a homescreen where all you see is a list of your recent video messages (the blue ones are unread), and a record button.



This red record button is the only control on the homescreen, and to start recording, you just drag the screen down to open up a camera interface. From here, you can tap to start recording and tap to stop. You can also switch between the front and back cameras while recording, as you could on any video call today. When recording is complete, you select your recipient or recipients and hit send. For those not on the app, you can optionally send them an SMS that prompts them to download it. (They won't need to later "friend" you in the app – as soon as they log in, your video is there.)

Within each group of video messages between two or more Skype Qik users, the video responses are displayed as rounded profile icons at the bottom of the screen, in chronological order.

Qik fills in the gap of Skype's voicemail feature. Voicemails are for when the party doesn't pick up. Skype Qik is about talking to someone who can't respond in real-time.







For a bit of fun, you can also pre-record various 5-second video reactions like your "OMG" look or shaking your head "no," and use these to respond to video messages when you're not in a position to record a new one. (This feature is live on iOS and Android, and in the works for Windows Phone).

Skype Qik is available today on iTunes, Google Play and the Windows Phone Store.