Microsoft acquires Skype

Last summer there were already rumors about an interest by Cisco to purchase the Skype VoIP software maker but eventually nothing was done. Recently there were rumors of offers by Facebook and Google instead. Yesterday however a rumor had become insistent about an agreement with Microsoft which was confirmed later in the day. Bill Gates’ company has signed an agreement to buy Skype for $8.5 billion in cash.

Microsoft’s move confirms the company’s intention to operate aggressively in the telecommunications market after the agreement recently reached with Nokia. At this point Microsoft could offer additional services as part of the software for Windows Phone, besides Skype will support Xbox and Kinetic. In general the impression is that Microsoft wants to integrate Skype into all company’s products.

Skype is a software originally developed by some Estonian developers who released the first beta in 2003. Its purpose is to make phone calls over the Internet, even to traditional telephones.

In October 2005 Skype was bought by eBay with the idea of ​​offering the possibility of a more direct contact between buyers and sellers but the experiment failed. After years of ups and downs with various new services developed, in November 2009 the 70% of Skype was sold to a consortium of various companies. At that point the estimated total value of the company reached about $2.75 billion.

Skype has never had big profits, actually last year ended with a $7 million loss. This is however a company with 170 million users to which Microsoft can offer new services to counter Apple’s success and Google’s ambitions in the field of telecommunications.

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Will those $8.5 billion be well spent? There are many factors that will have to be evaluated in long term. For example how will Skype services be integrated with the MSN/Live ones? And what about the Skype versions for platforms other than Windows?

Microsoft also produces software for Mac, particularly Office, and continuing to develop a version of Skype for Mac not only would keep that platform’s users but it would also help the company to avoid antitrust problems. What about Skype for Linux? This is a limited software compared to the versions for other platforms, is it conceivable that Microsoft invests resources to make happy users of an operating system it fought fiercely for years?

From the first statements arrived with the announcement of the acquisition it would seem that the development of all versions of Skype will continue. However it’s clear that there could be changes any time, perhaps with the excuse that Linux users hate Microsoft products.

There are many doubts but it’s inevitable as it’s such a big deal for the price paid but also for the many possible repercussions on the world of telecommunications and not just on that. The next announcements coming from Microsoft will have to be taken with a grain of salt because Bill Gates’ company has made us accustomed to promises of amazing advancements for the new versions of its products only to discover that just some of the announced innovations have actually been implemented while the others have been postponed to the next version.

Due to both concerns about a possible Microsoft dominance and the problems that typically afflict the company’s products many Skype users have already announced they will seek alternatives, possibly free (as in free speech).

If Microsoft fails to become a major company in the world of telecommunications the price paid for Skype might be really too high.

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