Panasonic is taking a stab at a new product...

Panasonic is taking a stab at a new product category -- a combination Skype display/photo frame that it’s calling the UN-W700 Multimedia Video System Featuring Skype. If the name doesn’t flow off the tongue, retailers may have an equally difficult time positioning it -- a “fair question,” Alex Fried, group manager of home entertainment, told us at the company’s holiday preview event in Manhattan Wednesday. The seven-inch 800x480 touch screen LCD display -- which has Bluetooth, SD and USB inputs, built-in Wi-Fi, 4 GB memory and a 2-megapixel webcam -- could be positioned with digital photo frames or in the video aisle with Blu-ray players, Fried said. But the company is calling it a “communications tool,” emphasizing the Skype functionality, he said. As a music player, it supports MP3 and WMA, and the video player supports H.264, MPEG-4 and WMV, according to literature. Suggested retail price is $249 and it will ship in September, Gene Kelsey, director of retail sales support, told us. The frame, which runs a Qualcomm 1 GHz processor on the Android operating system, also comes with apps for Google Play, Twitter, Facebook and TuneIn Radio along with a “limited” browser, Kelsey said. Regarding whether the touch-screen device might be a way to test the waters for a tablet product further on, Fried said the tablet market is “very competitive,” but that Panasonic is always looking to see if the time is right for new technology. Target customers include military personnel and “technophobes,” who want the benefits of Skype without buying into the full PC experience, but Grandma would have to have Wi-Fi to make it work, Fried said. Panasonic also showed a white Bluetooth speaker roughly the size of a hockey puck ($69.99), which can run on AA batteries or charge by USB, Fried said. The Bluetooth speaker, designed to stream music from smartphones and tablets, will ship next month, he said.