Microsoft’s Skype is definitely looking to keep its lead in the VoIP race and has just started testing a video voicemail feature on Apple’s OS X and iOS and Google’s Android operating systems in the United States and the United Kingdom.
You may have to do a bit of hunting for the option, but it should be there. Users get 20 free video messages of up to 3 minutes long to start, but will likely need to subscribe to Skype Premium if they want unlimited video voicemail messages; Microsoft hasn’t specified if it would be bundled within the Premium price or as its own separate pricing plan.
The messages are downloadable in MP4 format on the OSX version, but don’t appear to be downloadable on the mobile versions at this time (at least it didn’t appear that way). We tried it ourselves and wound up rediscovering the loveliness that is beta testing; though the video and audio quality was quite typical of what we would expect from Skype, we had to force close the app on our HTC Glacier twice before it decided to work. Because of the inability to download, we were not able to post a preview for all to see, but it’s certainly an intriguing feature that sets Skype apart from its growing list of competitors nonetheless.
The feature has not yet been announced for Microsoft’s own Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 operating systems but it would be completely crazy for it to sidestep both OSes. We imagine we’ll be seeing the feature show up on both in the next few weeks. Have you tried the video voicemail yet?