Sharper, Smoother, Better: Skype and Logitech Join Forces, Fulfill Promise of High Quality Video-Calling Experience

LUXEMBOURG & FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Skype and Logitech (SWX:LOGN) (NASDAQ:LOGI), the world’s leading manufacturer of webcams, today announced a collaboration to deliver a new standard of video calls over the Internet: High Quality Video. With High Quality Video on Skype™, people worldwide can enjoy free video calls that are sharper and smoother than ever before. The experience is so good, it might be better than being there.

“This is a major leap in the clarity and smoothness of free video calls over the Internet,” said Gareth O‘Loughlin, Skype’s general manager, mobile and hardware devices. “High Quality Video is a tremendous opportunity to delight our more than 246 million users and take their Skype experience to a whole new level. One in four Skype calls already involve video, so we know our users love to show and not just tell. High Quality Video will take Skype conversations to a whole new level of realism. In the past, only big businesses could afford this kind of video quality. It’s now time to take it to everyone else.”

“High Quality Video takes all the promises of video calling – staying connected with family and friends, traveling the world without a suitcase and increasing collaboration among colleagues spread across a global network – and dramatically enhances the quality of the experience,” said Gina Clark, general manager and vice president of Logitech’s Internet Communications business unit. “Once people start enjoying High Quality Video at VGA resolution and 30 frames per second – a level of quality that is sharper and smoother than we’ve ever seen on Skype before – it will quickly become an indispensable way to stay connected.”

About High Quality Video

Whether it’s a father reading a book to his kids back home while he travels for work, grandchildren giving their grandparents a close-up view of their first lost tooth, or colleagues connecting across continents to discuss a business proposal, High Quality Video offers image-perfect detail and clarity to help people connect better with their friends and families, co-workers and clients – without having to buy and install expensive video-conferencing equipment.

High Quality Video (Skype 3.6 for Windows and Logitech QuickCam® software, version 11.5) brings VGA-quality video calls (640-by-480-pixels) at up to 30 frames per second (fps) to people using a broadband connection (384 kbps connection or higher), a High Quality Video-certified Logitech webcam and a PC with a dual-core processor. Both parties require minimum system requirements to experience High Quality Video. As a result, people can enjoy significantly sharper, smoother video calls in full-screen mode.

A collaborative effort between Logitech and Skype, the High Quality Video experience is created through Skype software, Logitech webcams, and a fully redesigned set of drivers in the QuickCam software, all optimized to work together in a way never achieved before. Logitech’s new webcam drivers are specially tuned to recognize callers who have the new Skype software.

Logitech Webcams Certified for High Quality Video

High Quality Video on Skype is available with the following premium Logitech webcams: the Logitech® QuickCam® Pro 9000, the Logitech® QuickCam® Pro for Notebooks and the Logitech® QuickCam® Orbit AF (Logitech® QuickCam® Sphere AF in Europe).

All three High Quality Video-certified webcams offer a Carl Zeiss lens and a premium autofocus system for fast, fluid focusing that helps eliminate the inconvenience of manual focusing. Logitech’s autofocus system refocuses images in less than three seconds and helps ensure that images remain crisp even in extreme close-ups (up to 4 inches/10 cm from the camera lens).

For the office and the home, the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 comes with a flexible universal base, which allows it to rest comfortably on nearly any monitor. For the on-the-go professional, the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks is sold with a protective travel case and an adjustable, spring-tension clip that accommodates even large laptops with panels up to 20 mm thick. The QuickCam Orbit AF webcam can cover 190 horizontal degrees and 100 vertical degrees of a room and offers a unique pan-and-tilt tracking technology.

Pricing and Availability

Skype 3.6 for Windows is expected to be available as a free download at skype.com in November and will support 28 languages. The Logitech QuickCam Software version 11.5 is available now for free download at www.logitech.com/downloads.

The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks webcams are available now worldwide for a suggested retail price of $99.99 (U.S.). The Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF (QuickCam Sphere AF) is available now worldwide for a suggested retail price of $129.99 (U.S.). The webcams are also available for purchase at www.skype.com/shop.

About Skype

Skype sets the standard in providing new and easy ways to stay in touch over the internet. Millions of people every day make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages using our software. Some pay a little per minute for long-distance and international calls to phones and mobiles and for SMS, voicemail and call forwarding, or they buy subscriptions that give unlimited calls nationwide.

We certify and sell hundreds of hardware products from more than 50 partners and work with third-party developers to create software to extend Skype's functionality. Skype has been downloaded more than half a billion times and over 246 million people from almost every corner of the globe have registered.

Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ:EBAY), and you can learn more and get Skype at www.skype.com.

Make your world a smaller place: talk, share and do more with Skype.

About Logitech

Logitech is a world leader in personal peripherals, driving innovation in PC navigation, Internet communications, digital music, home-entertainment control, gaming and wireless devices. Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI).

Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Me, Skype Certified, Skypecasts, associated logos and the “S” symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited. Access to a broadband Internet connection is required for Skype and all Skype Certified devices and accessories. Skype is not a replacement for your traditional telephone service and cannot be used for emergency calling.

Logitech, the Logitech logo, and other Logitech marks are registered in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information about Logitech and its products, visit the company’s Web site at www.logitech.com.

(LOGI - IR)