San Francisco, Mar 27 (IANS): Dismissed by industry analysts, Facebook's Portal TV video chat device has been sold out on company's website as well as on online platforms like Best Buy and Amazon, as people find the video calling app best way to stay in touch with family and friends.

Back in November last year when Facebook began selling the Portal TV -- the device which lets the user do video chat using their own TV as the screen -- was quickly dismissed by industry reviewers and privacy experts.

But as new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic spreads, especially in the US which now tops the list of the countries with most infected cases, people are home and want to stay connected.

"Like other companies, we are experiencing impact to our hardware production due to COVID-19," a CNBC report quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying on Thursday.

"Some Portal models have been intermittently out of stock in select channels and regions. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to make products available as quickly as we can".

There are four Facebook Portal gadgets, including a big one that initially launched in 2018, two frame-sized devices and the $149 Portal TV, which uses TV as a big video chat screen and provides really high-quality wide-angle lenses.