The Litl Webbook is a $399 internet appliance that’s sort of a cross between a netbook and a souped up digital picture frame. When the company first introduced the product with a $699 price tag, I was skeptical. And to be honest, now that the price is $399, I’m still a bit skeptical that there’s a market for the Webbook — or at least that the market isn’t already being better served by products like the iPad. But the folks at Litl are pushing ahead with their vision of an internet-connected device that’s so easy to use that you can hand it to your non-tech-savvy grandparent or a toddler.
The company’s latest announcement is that Litl has partnered with Skype to let users make voice and video calls using a Litl Webbook.
The concept behind the Webbook is that users won’t have to (or be able to) install third party apps. So the Skype app will be baked right into the operating system. New customers who pick up a Litl Webbook this fall will have Skype preloaded. Existing users will get it through an automatic software update — although you’ll have to reboot the Webbook for the software to initialize the first time.
The software isn’t quite ready yet. I got a chance to check out a demo unit this week and only voice calls were up and running. But the full version should be ready in the fall.