/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/L2JN4NFPXBJGPJNAA2A7ECHILE.jpg)
You see a 3D printed Facebook logo placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken on March 25, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration / Archive Photo
September 21 (Reuters) – Facebook (FB.O) on Tuesday announced two new models of video calling devices from the portal, including its first portable version.
The social media company also said it was testing a service with several U.S. companies to get companies to remotely manage the Portal’s work accounts and devices.
Facebook has not provided specific sales numbers to Portal, but a spokeswoman said there has been an increase in sales and use during the COVID-19 pandemic, through which many companies went to work remotely and more people stayed home under closure measures. Facebook gets the vast majority of its money from digital ads.
The company, which is under scrutiny by global regulators and legislators over its approach to security, privacy and user content through its services, launched its first line of portals in 2018. Smart display devices Ligent, one of Facebook’s forays into selling hardware, allows users to make video calls, with cameras that automatically track users around a room.
Updates to the new models announced on Tuesday include a “home mode,” which allows users to share a portal and control other users’ access to their contacts and apps, and a way to watch TV through the product with other users. who do not use a Portal device. .
Facebook said the Portal Go laptop will cost $ 199 and the Portal + large screen, the latest generation of the product, will cost $ 349. Both will begin shipping on October 19th.
Facebook also said it would begin adding support for Microsoft Teams to Portal in December.
The company reported non-advertising revenue of $ 497 million in the second quarter of 2021, which it attributed primarily to sales of its Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset. Last month, Facebook launched a test of a working app VR remote where Quest 2 users can hold meetings as avatar versions of themselves. Read more
Reports of Elizabeth Culliford in London; Edited by David Gregorio
Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.