Microsoft announced the launch of Skype group video calling for mobile phones and tablets. This is now rolling out on iPhone, iPad, and Android phones and tablets in Western Europe and North America.

“At Skype we believe that video is essential to maintaining personal connections with the people who matter most,” Skype says in a blog post. “To see someone’s face, to view a reaction and to experience that closeness with people you love — these are the things that inspired and motivated us to deliver a first-rate group video calling experience on mobile and tablet. Here are some of the things you can look forward to on your next group video calling experience.”

“For the ultimate get together experience, group video calls are in glorious HD quality and optimized specifically for the device you’re using, giving a more natural feel to the call,” it adds. “The person talking is displayed front and center and video is immersive and full screen. Audio is also crystal clear, thanks to our SILK Super Wide Band audio codec in our cloud conferencing stack. To achieve this, we’re proud to have worked with one of Microsoft’s biggest partners, Intel, which helped enable us to optimize SILK Audio specifically for Azure running on Intel processors.”

More on group video calling here.

The roll-out to the mentioned markets is expected to be complete within the next week or so. The feature will roll-out worldwide next month.

Images via Skype