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PC users can move another step closer to having a Jetsons-style video phone with the release of Vibe Phone, a service that combines instant messaging technology with video over broadband. The service is priced similar to cell phone plans.

"We have built Vibe Phone as a pure viewing experience," says Brad Herrick, vice president of marketing for GlobalStreams, the developer. "We have taken professional high-end video and embedded it into a consumer-friendly interface. Many programs have all these windows popping up all the time, but we supply all the tools you need in a single place."

Tapping IM

Vibe Phone strives to take advantage of the increasing popularity of instant messaging, adding a video component to the PC communication platform. Unlike some vendors that have grafted video capabilities onto existing IM software, GlobalStreams has designed a more video-centric experience: The company started with a video platform and added the "instant detect" aspect of IM.

The downloadable Vibe Phone software is designed as a one-stop video and audio controller. When users want to correspond, they can make a connection by entering their e-mail address in a window or activating a "picon" (an image representing a user) of their choosing. Aside from standard video controls, the software includes a picture-sharing module that users control by a simple drag-and-drop action, according to GlobalStreams representatives.

Vibe Phone users can import phone book information from an Outlook file. The software's picture-sharing module contains a transition feature, which lets you snazz up your class photos as you show them to grandma.

Vibe Phone borrows its pricing model from cellular phones. The basic $5 option allows 100 minutes of communications. More-extensive plans are available: You can pay $10 for 250 minutes of use, or $20 for 650 minutes. GlobalStreams does not offer unlimited-use plans, and the charges are in addition to Internet access fees.

While Vibe Phone requires broadband, it will run well at speeds as slow as 128 kbps, according to Herrick.

Luring Consumers

Many vendors that provide low-cost communications programs focus on corporations, while offering their consumer service as a loss leader. However, while Vibe Phone is targeted at small- to medium-size businesses and can operate through two firewalls, it is positioned as a consumer product aimed at unsophisticated users, Herrick says.

"There are a number of free applications out there that just don't work," Herrick says. "People who haven't been happy with the Webcam experience will try Vibe Phone and change their minds."

In fact, GlobalStreams is betting that consumers will be more receptive than large corporations of this type of video conferencing, especially as broadband is more widely adopted, Herrick says.

The service is ideal for grandparents who want to talk and share pictures with their grandchildren, he notes, citing figures that indicate a rapid increase in the use of broadband service by older people. Vibe Phone's testing pool included a combination of "mainstream users and college students," he says.

GlobalStreams is undaunted at competition from Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL, which all have similar video services. The company contends "the big guys are locked up in market-share wars and are more concerned with building onto their established IM platforms than coming up with a new way to approach video communications."

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