I'm sure most people have heard about the recent move by Microsoft to purchase Skype for the eye-popping price tag of $8.5 billion. Oddly, the pundents and press releases mostly speak of integration with things like the Xbox gaming platform or Microsoft's various communication/IM tools.
Why?
In the consumer space Microsoft Kinect already has a video over the internet feature. And if you have ever played a game online over Xbox live, you probably know that it supports audio over the internet as well.
In the enterprise space there is also an Enterprise collaboration tool called Lync. I haven't had a chance to play around with Lync yet, but if it's anything like Live Meeting, which it is replacing, it can do a competent job of doing sharing audio, video, to multiple people.
I'm curious to why people keep writing about letting people use their Xbox's to video conference on an Enterprise network? I mean, it could be interesting, but $8.5 billion dollars interesting? And why do they need Skype?
The one thing that Skype has that Microsoft doesn't, that I can think of, is the ability to tie in VoIP to a phone network for millions of users.
Backing up a little bit. How happy are you with your cell phone coverage while indoors? Unless you have a femtocell or your cellular company has a tower right outside your house or office, chances are, not very. Personally I use Sprint as my cell phone provider. Most of the time, my reception indoors is terrible. If I go further into the building to a confrence room, fuggadaboutit. No service. This is pretty much standard course for any cellular company.
Even though I don't have good phone service, I do have good WiFi.
Let's say for a moment that my phone service uses WiFi when it's available, and cellular network when I'm away from my home or office. Suddenly my poor Sprint service I get while at a meeting or in paticular rooms at home doesn't matter as much. I can still make or receive calls on my cell phone, no matter which confrence room or basement I'm in.
Beyond SIP service, Skype does allow their users to get their own phone number, and can make and recieve phone calls over an IP connection to the phone network. In fact, that's how they make most of their money. Now, cellular network providers probably don't like this idea a lot, because they want people to buy voice network minutes. But cellular providers the world over might not have a lot of say into this.
Why? Because of Google Android.
Google has been supplying Google Voice and Google Talk for the past serveral months. How long do you think it will take before you'll see seamless handovers between your data cell networks and your home or work WiFi networks with your Android phone running SIP or some other VoIP using Google software? My bet, less than a year.
I'm sure it will be a long path with much gnashing of teeth from the Verizons, AT&Ts, and Sprints of the world, but through the wonders of competition, I can see the day where you simply buy a data plan from your cellular network provider and don't give a fig about voice minutes. And if you want to make a phone call without walking to your window, you'll need an Android phone.
I think that Microsoft has come to the same conclusion. Windows Mobile platform needs a killer app, or at least, can't be a killer app behind Android. And anything you can do with Google Voice/Talk, you can do with Skype. To keep up with Android, Windows Mobile will need to offer this feature, and probably heavily integrate Skype into Windows Mobile for their VoIP technology.
I wonder what Apple will do to compete, given their lack of VoIP and interaction with phone networks in their portfolio?
