SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - February 11, 2011) - TokBox, a leading web video communications provider, today announced 30 new partners that are now using its recently launched live group video communications platform, OpenTok. Capitalizing on its lead in the group video chat space, TokBox has attracted companies from a diverse range of industries including web and mobile messaging aggregator, eBuddy; social platform and IM service, LiveGO; and gaming site, PokerView. OpenTok is quickly proving that its unique video chat platform is the answer for a range of businesses looking to bring rich, human interaction to their online experience.
OpenTok's newest gaming partner, PokerView, is an online poker portal that has taken advantage of OpenTok's API to give players a face-to-face, poker-playing experience via video chat. Adding the ability to position each player's live video stream next to their position at the table, PokerView can now let online players experience the emotions, spontaneous reactions, and friendly banter of a real game.
"Webcam poker will forever revolutionize the way online poker is played," said Art Del Gado, Marketing Manager at Poker View. "Poker players will now have the ability to view their opponent, enabling them to make a better decision on how to play their hands."
OpenTok's newest communications partner, eBuddy, is a web and mobile instant messaging service that enables users to chat free of charge in one aggregated interface. eBuddy has now launched a one-on-one video call feature with OpenTok within its web-based service that lets users easily chat face-to-face with their chat buddies in just one click.
"The OpenTok API is a great complement to our service," said Martijn Jansen, VP, Products and Marketing at eBuddy. "OpenTok's flexibility allows us to deeply integrate video conversations into our instant messenger platform, and enables our more than 30 million global users to choose between static text messaging or a real-time video chat format. Our users love having the option to easily start a video chat with their friends, and we love the control we have over the video streams which can be easily adjusted to meet the needs of our users."
Other new partners include LiveGO, a social platform and IM service, and AbilTo, a behavioral health and wellness company. LiveGO has implemented OpenTok's API to enable users to video chat with their IM friends, and AbilTo has added group live video to enhance its group therapy offerings. These companies join previously announced early-stage partners The Real News Network, a non-profit news and documentary network, WinkVid, a speed-dating site, and TutorTrove, an education service provider, which have all innovated on the OpenTok platform and taken full advantage of the flexibility and customizability of its APIs.
The OpenTok platform allows developers to build group video chat into their web experience in any way they choose, using an extensive set of JavaScript APIs. The platform is entirely flexible and customizable -- from the size, layout, motion and interaction of individual video streams, to who can see, hear and talk to whom. Any one conversation can have up to 20 participants and can take place on different web pages simultaneously, whether that is within one site or across multiple websites. That same conversation can also be watched by thousands of people. This kind of engagement increases time-on-site, drives site traffic, boosts sales, builds customer loyalty, establishes a dialogue with consumers, and much more.
"Competition for customers is more intense than ever and the battle for user attention on the web continues," noted Ian Small, CEO of TokBox. "Companies with websites are on the lookout for new ways to personally engage with existing customers and capture new audiences. The OpenTok platform addresses this core business need, and offers websites a way to increase user engagement by injecting human, face-to-face interaction into the experience -- whether they are digital media owners, gaming companies, social networking sites or even e-commerce sites -- as our growing cadre of partners attests."
About TokBox
TokBox is a leading group web video communications provider. OpenTok, the company's flagship product, is a game-changing new platform that enables websites to weave live, group video conversations into their online experience. The platform targets businesses, entrepreneurs, developers and anyone with a web presence, and harnesses the power of video like never before to drive user engagement in combination with the website's content. OpenTok-powered video conversations can be woven into nearly any web activity or wrapped around a site's content -- from shopping with friends to talking about a breaking news story -- live, face-to-face on the web. The scalable, customizable platform incorporates quality-enhancing proprietary TokBox technology and accommodates up to 20 chat participants live with thousands watching. TokBox is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
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