Microsoft buying Skype

[AznAnarchy99]

Must be nice to have so much money to burn.

 

[DaWhim]

l laugh at ebay for letting skype go and wrote it off as a loss.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Uh, guys, this is a MOBILE motivated purchase. I'm betting skype will be integrated with future versions of windows phone, and it will operate over VOIP and your data plan.

Windows Phone 8 - $30/mo, 6 GB data, unlimited calling in North America.

Yes, but there's really nothing preventing Microsoft from doing that on their own (I might be wrong, but I doubt Skype actually has a superior infrastructure for this, so Microsoft would actually be an upgrade for Skype as well, with Google really being the only one able to offer anything comparable, but Microsoft with Windows, Windows Mobile, and Xbox offering a better situation to push Skype beyond where it is now). It offers both sides an installed base of users (integrating Skype into Windows would be pretty big) as well.

I definitely could be way off though, and maybe this is just to integrate it into Windows Phone, but this seems bigger to me, and I think it could be very cool. Certainly embedding Skype just like your current phone setup would be good on its own, but imagine being able to automatically sync it across platforms so if you get a call it pops up on your computer, or likewise if you're playing Xbox, and you can take the call right away without any issues.

I'm way too rambling when I post, all 3 in this thread are just all over the place.

 

[Miramonti]

The US intelligence community just cracked open their 4th keg and should be partying throughout the morning on this one.

No way in hail is Microsoft going to keep them out of Skype anymore...(if the feds haven't already cracked it, that is.)

 

[lothar]

What a waste of shareholder value.
It certainly wouldn't cost anywhere near $8.5 billion for them to build their own Skype alternative.

Microsoft should just stick to Windows and Office and paying dividends.

 

[JJChicken]

developersdevelopersdevelopersdevelopers

 

[lokiju]

My biggest concern is the last of non-MS OS support or priority.

Just like their Office for Mac. It's always way behind and always lacking some kind of feature the Windows versions have had forever. Office 2011 for Mac is the closest yet to the Windows version and even with that the Outlook app doesn't support server side rules, which is a huge pain in the ass in the business world.

I see this driving Google Talk to becoming more and more popular, if they can get a IOS app.

 

[TwiceOver]

We'll NEVER get video for Android now.

 

[Trianon]

Not any good ones.

I use Oovoo and it's pretty good.

 

[darkewaffle]

What a waste of shareholder value.
It certainly wouldn't cost anywhere near $8.5 billion for them to build their own Skype alternative.

Microsoft should just stick to Windows and Office and paying dividends.

But for $8.5 billion you get Skype's brand, Skype's user base (650M+ IDs with 23M+ simultaneous users peak), 12% international calling from 2009 (which has likely grown since then). And evidently 35% of skype usage is business related, which could play a role in giving WP7 business penetration.

A lot of people trash MS for "throwing money" at problems, and I think this time they wanted a black box solution. Not to mention they can do whatever they plan to with it in the next 6 months, rather than 12-18 months from now.

 

[amddude]

We'll NEVER get video for Android now.

Uh it's already out for gtalk?

 

[dpodblood]

It won't be free any more or you'll have to buy a Microsoft product to use it.

I highly doubt that. WLM has always been free, albeit ad supported. Skype will probably be the same. Although Linux and Android users may end up saying goodbye.

 

[Veliko]

8.5 billion? What a bunch of spazzers you can download it for free.

 

[Miramonti]

Skype Bloat, version 2.0

This is where MS is going to destroy the skype experience, beyond what skype has already done to it's craptastic bloated software.

 

[lothar]

But for $8.5 billion you get Skype's brand, Skype's user base (650M+ IDs with 23M+ simultaneous users peak), 12% international calling from 2009 (which has likely grown since then). And evidently 35% of skype usage is business related, which could play a role in giving WP7 business penetration.

A lot of people trash MS for "throwing money" at problems, and I think this time they wanted a black box solution. Not to mention they can do whatever they plan to with it in the next 6 months, rather than 12-18 months from now.

I'm not sure if all that is worth $8.5 billion especially coming from a company that eBay acknowledge to be a loser for them and sold their 70% stake for ~$2-3 billion just a few years ago.

When Microsoft wanted to spend $45 billion on Yahoo, a lot of people seem to be making nearly the same arguments which I myself find to be ridiculous. Yahoo brand, Yahoo users, Yahoo mail, Yahoo search, Yahoo portal, Alibaba stake, etc...

For some reason, Microsoft also decided to go it alone and not get investment advice from a financial firm while Skype got advice from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan...Interesting.

 

[dpodblood]

Skype Bloat, version 2.0

This is where MS is going to destroy the skype experience, beyond what skype has already done to it's craptastic bloated software.

Both Skype, and WLM's UI's have gone way down hill as of late. I started using Trillian, because I just can't stand WLM anymore. Too bad there are no 3rd party client's for Skype.

 

[SAWYER]

I dont care what anyone says, the new windows phone ui is sweet and damn nice and this will be a nice addition to it

 

[cerebusPu]

i recall ebay sold it to some company in 2009 for $2-$3billion. that company is filthy rich now.

 

[darkewaffle]

I'm not sure if all that is worth $8.5 billion especially coming from a company that eBay acknowledge to be a loser for them and sold their 70% stake for ~$2-3 billion just a few years ago.

When Microsoft wanted to spend $45 billion on Yahoo, a lot of people seem to be making nearly the same arguments which I myself find to be ridiculous. Yahoo brand, Yahoo users, Yahoo mail, Yahoo search, Yahoo portal, Alibaba stake, etc...

For some reason, Microsoft also decided to go it alone and not get investment advice from a financial firm while Skype got advice from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan...Interesting.

I'd agree on the Yahoo deal, but I think it's different given Skype's position in the VOIP market relative to Yahoo's position in the search market. Yahoo, even then in 2008 was in a pretty clear decline. I think Skype is more akin to Yahoo in the late 90s or very early 2000s, mostly in that I'd regard it as still on an upswing. Microsoft's support could give it what it needs to cement that position so that it doesn't experience that decline, especially if they integrate it with XBL, WP7, Windows and continue support for Skype on other platforms.

I think if they market it as a multi-purpose, multi-platform messenger that can easily let you talk to your XBL friends from your phone or call your grandma from your laptop or video chat with your fiancee on her laptop from your phone, it could gain a lot of ground. The only problem is how you make money off what are generally free services.

 

[Nebor]

The US intelligence community just cracked open their 4th keg and should be partying throughout the morning on this one.

No way in hail is Microsoft going to keep them out of Skype anymore...(if the feds haven't already cracked it, that is.)

We've been getting good intel from Skype for a while now. Skype calls originating from certain parts of the world are subject to more scrutiny than others. So I don't know what you're on about.

 

[Gooberlx2]

It certainly wouldn't cost anywhere near $8.5 billion for them to build their own Skype alternative.

It would probably cost a lot more than that to match Skype's existing brand recognition and installed user base.

edit: I see that was covered, I really should read the whole thread first.

Regardless, I'm not sure what ebay thought they were going to do with Skype. Their business/product ventures don't seem to be the kind that would have ever taken advantage of Skype. MS is most certainly positioned well to able to make use of Skype. If it's not straight profits from the service itself, it's by utilizing it to penetrate further in to certain areas for their other products, like WP7, business communications, messenger, etc...

 

[Miramonti]

We've been getting good intel from Skype for a while now. Skype calls originating from certain parts of the world are subject to more scrutiny than others. So I don't know what you're on about.

The latest I heard was that skype has frustrated law enforcement due to it's encryption. Calls perhaps could be tracked, but not listened to.

Are you saying the encryption Skype uses has been broken? (/edit: apparently it was last year.)

 

[TwiceOver]

Uh it's already out for gtalk?

I didn't know GTalk is Skype. Awesome. Thanks, now I can talk to all my Skype friends on GTalk. Cool.

 

[silverpig]

Yes, but there's really nothing preventing Microsoft from doing that on their own (I might be wrong, but I doubt Skype actually has a superior infrastructure for this, so Microsoft would actually be an upgrade for Skype as well, with Google really being the only one able to offer anything comparable, but Microsoft with Windows, Windows Mobile, and Xbox offering a better situation to push Skype beyond where it is now). It offers both sides an installed base of users (integrating Skype into Windows would be pretty big) as well.

I definitely could be way off though, and maybe this is just to integrate it into Windows Phone, but this seems bigger to me, and I think it could be very cool. Certainly embedding Skype just like your current phone setup would be good on its own, but imagine being able to automatically sync it across platforms so if you get a call it pops up on your computer, or likewise if you're playing Xbox, and you can take the call right away without any issues.

I'm way too rambling when I post, all 3 in this thread are just all over the place.

see this:

But for $8.5 billion you get Skype's brand, Skype's user base (650M+ IDs with 23M+ simultaneous users peak), 12% international calling from 2009 (which has likely grown since then). And evidently 35% of skype usage is business related, which could play a role in giving WP7 business penetration.

A lot of people trash MS for "throwing money" at problems, and I think this time they wanted a black box solution. Not to mention they can do whatever they plan to with it in the next 6 months, rather than 12-18 months from now.

Microsoft can't make a Skype equivalent in a few months. Software maybe, but not the customer base. This is what they're going after. It's not JUST about mobile, but mobile is a huge part of it IMO.

What a waste of shareholder value.
It certainly wouldn't cost anywhere near $8.5 billion for them to build their own Skype alternative.

Microsoft should just stick to Windows and Office and paying dividends.

Kind of like how Apple should have just stuck to making iPods? The vast majority of corporate purchases destroy value, but they may have to do it still. It is an interesting move for sure.

 

[ElFenix]

8.5 billion, wtf?