Skype is coming to Windows Phone - really
And the XBox. And Win 8. Telcos, start your griping
Skype has again promised to slip its eponymous telephony application into Windows Phone handsets real soon - while integrating with Facebook and working out what people might actually pay for.
The pledge emerged from last week's consumerism carnival (CES 2012) after a sycophantic interviewer buttered up Skype's VP of Products Rick Osterloh. He's adamant that the company, which was snapped up by Microsoft last year, is working on a Windows Phone version of Skype's VoIP service along with XBox and Windows 8 versions, but is clearly more interested in talking about Facebook tie-ups and premium services that Skype might be able to charge for.
Facebook integration means staying within the Skype client to open up calls and chats to Facebook contacts. That's important as it makes Skype the identity aggregator - just provide your Facebook login details and you can stay in touch with your friends without having to see Zuckerberg's interface at all.
Premium services are also important - Skype might be carrying a billion minutes a day (though, strictly speaking, Skype isn't "carrying" those minutes as it is a peer-to-peer service) but very few of those are being paid for. Premium subscriptions will provide free calls to US landlines and mobiles, and group video as well as screen sharing to enable Skype to complete with WebEx and its ilk.
Integrating Skype into mobile telephony will almost annoy Microsoft's carrier partners as Skype minutes aren't contributing to their profits, but there's only so long that Windows Phone can be the only smartphone without integrated Skype if Redmond is going to justify the $8.5bn price tag. ®
COMMENTS
You could communicate through the medium of dance, Like bees.
I love these "all six" jokes
Because they're totally correct and all minority operating systems should be immediately wiped from the planet. If it's not selling bazillions, it's trash.
Goodbye Linux and MacOSX!
Oh wait...
how long till its the only VOIP allowed on WP7?
Wonder if Microsoft have plans to outlaw all other VOIP on WP7. I can believe some in MS planning would see it as a way to drive Skype installs on other platforms, the foundation of some imagined future monopoly. Wouldn't be hard to kill all non-Skype gateways into the system to force Skype installs.
Personally I'm happy with Androids provider agnostic VOIP support and picking my own service provider, who currently undercut Google on pricing.
Where to begin...
Do I start with the old, crap, outdated joke, or the spelling...?
Hmm...
Isn't this a bit late?
Now, pardon my ignorance but I kind of assumed that this was already available on the windows phone.
Considering how a Skype client even runs smoothly on a psp and how Microsoft have bought the entire company last year I think its actually a bit surprising to learn that it isn't already available. It seems Android supports it, so why not WP7 right after launch date?
