Unyte - An Extras Gallery Success Story
Intuitive Desktop Sharing Application Bringing in Over 5,000 Installs Daily
WebDialogs has been offering beta versions of its Unyte desktop sharing application for Skype for over six months. However, with the release of Skype 3.0, Unyte has become one of the top downloads from the Extras Gallery resulting in over 5,000 installations daily. Simply doing a download is not sufficient for Unyte to count as an installation; Unyte requires that a user not only download and install the program but also initiate at least one session with a remote participant. Key to Unyte's success:
- Increased visibility and awareness through the Extras Gallery
- A positive initial user experience in not only downloading and installing but also in using the product.
- An intuitive user interface
- While a session host needs to download and install the 1MB client, participants in a desktop sharing session simply need any web browser (IE 6 or 7, Firefox, Opera) in any OS (Windows Mac, Linux) to view the shared desktop.
The screen above shows Unyte coming from Phil's desktop to my Firefox 2 browser. Note that there is one level of magnification to all viewing at the native resolution of the shared desktop (with panning).
The free version of Unyte provides basic desktop sharing for one-to-one sessions; it allows the user to get experience with its ease-of-installation and -operation. However, a paid subscription brings many additional features including:
- sharing with multiple participants (at the 5-, 10- and 25-participant level)
- selective application sharing; hide "confidential" applications from remote viewers
- remote control of the shared desktop (with security permissions, of course)
- pointer and annotation
- session scheduling
- salesforce.com integration
In an interview with CEO Lou Guercia, Skype Journal learned:
- Unyte is hosting over 7,000 sessions daily of previously registered users
- While installations are around 5,000, there are actually close to 8,000 downloads daily.
- Many users are taking up subscriptions within a day or two of their first experience with Unyte
- They do not have any server load issues as WebDialogs has many years' experience hosting their other web conferencing and desktop sharing services which are OEM'd through carriers such as AT&T and British Telecom.
Key to Unyte's adoption is the flexibility of communicating an invitation to view a shared desktop. Send invitations directly to your Skype Contacts simply by selecting their name from the Skype Invitations Tab. For non-Skype users, invitations can be issued via email, cut and paste via a non-Skype chat window or just by reading the information to your participant.
Bottom line is that the invitation process and operation is quite intuitive with a fast learning curve. While we have only had access to the free version to date we will be able to provide a more thorough review of the premium version shortly.
For a free trial of Unyte go to the Tools | Do More menu in Skype 3.0 and select Unyte Application Sharing from the drop down menu. Give use your feedback via the Comments.
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Comments
Yeah, successfully hosting the sessions is key to success. That is a learning experience that I am sure most developing add-ons will have to get first hand...
Posted by: jc | February 2, 2007 10:39 AM