Napster guru Sean Parker is back and this time its video calls.
Airtime, launched this week, is a live video calls site, set to rival other VOIP services like Skype and will “create this better, more Utopian social reality, where the conversations are actually deeper and richer,” Internet entrepreneur and co-founder Parker says.
There is no download required, just login with Facebook, which Parker has dismissed as “boring” this week, despite having a major interest in the company he was once President of and is also said to have made a couple of billion from its recent IPO.
However, this link up with the social network immediately gives Airtime a user potential of close to one billion.
The video chat site is the brainchild of Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, who met on a video chat room in the nineties, which they say Airtime is a 21st century version of.
However, Airtime launched in New York Tuesday, suffered a series of setbacks leading Parker to declare apologetically:
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“We really have no business being in the technology business right now.”
“We totally failed.”
Airtimers can also play YouTube videos for friends and “see their reactions live” and there also a strong social networking element that allows users to “Discover” new mates based on shared interests, discerned from Facebook profiles.
Users can also video chat to random new friends by clicking “Talk to Someone” and can leave video messages if a recipient doesn’t answer.
However, Airtime is not yet compatible with tablets or smartphones, meaning its PC only for now.
But there are also plenty of celebs backing Parker’s latest online venture including Ashton Kutcher and Will.i.am according to Financial Times, as well as big name investors including Google Ventures, Accel Partners, and Social + Capital.
“Facebook doesn’t develop new relationships. Facebook is just trying to be the most accurate model of your social graph. There’s a part of me that feels somewhat bored by all of this,” Sean Parker said this week, insisting Airtime brings social to the next level.
