skype

Last we spoke of an app for Skype coming to Windows Phone was back in April, at MIX'11. An app was demoed and was slated for a "late fall 2011" release. Neil Stevens, Skype's Vice President and General Manager of Products and Marketing, spoke about how Skype is looking to be more integrated into the OS as opposed to being a mere app, which should be likely with Microsoft's acquisition.

We've now caught wind of Microsoft confirming the upcoming launch of a Skype app for Windows Phone, which is scheduled for late 2011. It will be interesting to see what the solution will be, we expect video calls will be supported to keep the app up to par with other platforms.

Source: @leoberto, via: MobileTechWorld

Microsoft has closed the deal on its acquisition of Skype, which saw the software giant forking out $8.5 billion. What's interesting to see from this deal is what will be brought to Windows 8 and Windows Phone. We're aware of Skype support coming to the platform but it will be exciting to see how both Skype and Microsoft go about implementation.

Skype CEO, Tony Bates, is set to remain at the top within the division at Microsoft and will report directly to Steve Ballmer. Microsoft has a neat and tidy portfolio of services with Skype, Live, Office, Windows and the Xbox to name but a few. 2012 is going to be one hell of a year.

Check out the full press release after the break. 

In the above video you can see a demo at TechED 2011 in New Zealand for Microsoft's Lync, which is the inter-office communication and VoIP system. The app is slated for a Q4 release and will also be coming to iOS, Android and Symbian with Windows Phone said to receive the first and best. Other platforms will receive a fully featured app with integration, not just a mere port.

A question from the audience was greeted by a fairly exciting response with the final goal in WP7 being to integrate Lync into hubs in favour of a stand-alone application. Communication will be handled by the messaging hub and anything from the cloud will be handled in the Office hub. Voice and video will be dependant on the handset and OS.

You may also have noticed in the video we hear some talk surrounding front-facing cameras on Windows Phone handsets, which further confirms our recent article covering Skype and the secondary camera support. Are you excited for FF cameras, or wont you use them?

Source: GoWindowsGo, video: alanburchill; Thanks, Sam S., for the Twitter tip!

The official GroupMe app was just released for Windows Phone not too long ago and while nice, it seems a bit redundant with Mango's groups feature. Still, it's a neat service and was one growing very quickly even though it's just over a year old. For those of you who don't remember, GroupMe's gives you the ability to create a group and then text or conference call that group with one number. What's neat is that you can use your data connection for texting the group, which can save some people money in addition to creating a unique conference call number which anyone in the group could use. Although the deal between Skype and Microsoft has been approved, it's still technically in motion, hence Skype buying GroupMe.

The Windows Phone app was still not feature-complete at the time, but it's still looking promising. What does this mean for Windows Phone users now that Microsoft (via Skype) owns the technology? We'll hope to see that conference call feature perhaps built in as well as the data-messaging system integrated into Mango's Group feature--that is, we expect GroupMe's tech to augment and enhance what's already there. We're okay with that. We can also see Skype getting some group features as well, which could also greatly enhance that service for more robust functionality.

For at least now though, the company and brand will remain separate with integration points coming down the line. Negotiations between Skype and GroupMe started around the same time as Skype and Microsoft, hence the overlap of deals.

via: TechCrunch

Looks like Skype, now owned by Microsoft, is serious about bringing video calling over to Windows Phone. In a job advertisement put out by the company, they are looking to hire someone

"...for building and optimizing the Skype Video Engine solution for Microsoft Windows and Windows Phone platforms."

Video engine? That little bit should confirm our suspicions. Going further, it looks like they are planning on plenty of updates to keep that baby humming a long:

"You will be working with a small team of highly skilled development and testing professionals to deliver a new release of the Video Engine every 2 months."

Of course it should come as no real surprise that Microsoft and Skype would do this--we know "Mango" evidenlty allows front-facing cameras and since Microsoft now owns Skype, deep integration into the desktop, Xbox, embedded devices and of course Windows Phone should be expected. But, we're at least glad that Skype looks to have already started down this route and are looking for more help, hopefully to speed things up now that the aquisition has gone through.

Here's hoping to full video calling over Skype in late 2011 on our 4G Windows Phone, amirite?

Source: Skype Careers; Thanks, Juan A., for the tip!

With the combination of Microsoft and Skype today, have we just sealed the fate of humanity, pitting us in a war against the machines...err, our phones?

Well, I for one welcome our new VOIP overlords.

Source: mjomark, via Reddit

According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft could announce as early as tomorrow a deal to buy Skype for a near record $7 billion dollars. The deal would be the largest acquisitions by Redmond in their 36 year history.

Rumors had been circling for a few days now that Microsoft and Skype would announce either some partnership or deal, but a full on acquisition was seen as less likely:

Microsoft Corp. is close to a deal to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for more than $7 billion, and a deal could be announced as early as Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said.

Negotiations were wrapping up Monday evening, and a deal could still fall apart, the people cautioned. Representatives for Microsoft and Skype declined to comment.

So nothing definitive yet, but even the move by Microsoft is sure gutsy and would certainly give them a solid brand name to stand behind.

Of course, what we're really interested is what this means for Windows Phone 7. Although we know Skype support is coming this fall, there's little doubt that Microsoft would not seize this opportunity to deeply integrate Skype into the OS at very low level, potentially giving VOIP and social networking a huge kick in the leg. The big issue would of course be carrier resistance, but that's another battle. All we know is this is very good news for our mobile OS, if this deal happens.

Stay tuned as the story develops.

Update: According to All Things D's Kara Swisher, it's a done deal and will be announced tomorrow morning. Reportedly the press-release comes at 5am PDT/8am EST.

Update 2: GigaOM is reporting that Microsoft paid $8.5 billion in cash for the company: $7b for the company, $1.5b in debt.

Update 3: Microsoft has issued a press release stating that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake.  Skype will become a new business division of Microsoft with Skype CEO Tony Bats assuming the role of president of the Microsoft Skype Division.  Skype will support Microsoft devices such as the Xbox consoles, Kinect and Windows Phones.  The purchase agreement has been approved by both Microsoft's and Skype's Boards of Directors.  Follow the break to read the full presser from Microsoft.

Source: WSJ

Today was a superb day for both the Windows Phone 7 platform and the development community behind the 13,000 Marketplace apps. Luckily we were at the front (literally) of the action in Las Vegas and laying our hawk eyes on the live stream to bring you the best coverage of the keynote from a variety of angles. Not only were we live blogging the entire session, we are also bringing you the latest bulletins covering the Angry Birds release date, IMDb working with Bing, Kik Messenger coming to WP7 and more.

Follow the break for a snappy list breaking down the important topics covered in the keynote along with an in-depth summary.

While Skype is still mum on the whole official support thing, the homebrew scene is still alive and kicking on filling in any gaps. We reported awhile ago about a small project to bring Skype to Windows Phone and it is progressing rather nicely, considering it's being done by only one developer ('Jefis').

Version v0.8 is rather far from functional but what you see above is this: a side-loaded Windows Phone application called 'Skyper' that connects via proxy to your Skype client on your PC. It is then able to pull down your contact information to display. Right now you can't act on any of the information, or rather the messaging part is not complete. Still, it's an impressive first step in the right direction, but a little technical on setting it up.

The real question though is this: with rumored socket support and confirmed multi-tasking ('Mango"), we think there's a high chance Skype may come to market on Windows Phone this year, but will Skyper beat it to the punch? We'll keep track of both sides.