http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/wsj-microsoft-ready-to-pay-7b-for-skype/
Microsoft's ownership of Skype would provide a unified VOIP platform that would cross all mobile media (Android/iOS/WP7/tablets..) as well as potential integration into existing platform (integration into Live/Windows/XBOXLive)
Skype has been looking for a suitor for some time; with the leader in the clubhouse for some time thought to be Facebook. Some had viewed Google as a potential suitor.
Honestly, Microsoft serves as a more likely fit. Skype's inclusion in the Facebook brand would have tied it directly to a platform geared at advertising and it wouldn't have spread; it would have basically tailored itself down to fit Facebook's goals. Google would have integrated this into Android and Gmail, but there weren't a lot of other places to go then that.
IF this comes true, Microsoft has all the pieces to put this in a broad approach across numerous platforms - it would give an immediate shippable option to Nokia in WP7, and it could be integrated into everything from Office to Exchange to XBOX to Phone and so on.
WSJ claims this is "close to a lock" which is a real surprise suitor; all the speculation really believed that Facebook was a lock to pull this off. POTENTIALLY a great buy for MS.
This is a deal that could have far-reaching ramifications for the infotainment community -- if it happens. Although Skype is best known as an inexpensive Internet phone service, with 663 million registered users worldwide it's poised to become a major advertising medium. Skype said in March that it will begin to put some ads on its home tab and that NBCUniversal, Nokia, and Groupon had agreed to be the first to sell their wares there.
Microsoft's ownership of Skype would provide a unified VOIP platform that would cross all mobile media (Android/iOS/WP7/tablets..) as well as potential integration into existing platform (integration into Live/Windows/XBOXLive)
Skype has been looking for a suitor for some time; with the leader in the clubhouse for some time thought to be Facebook. Some had viewed Google as a potential suitor.
Honestly, Microsoft serves as a more likely fit. Skype's inclusion in the Facebook brand would have tied it directly to a platform geared at advertising and it wouldn't have spread; it would have basically tailored itself down to fit Facebook's goals. Google would have integrated this into Android and Gmail, but there weren't a lot of other places to go then that.
IF this comes true, Microsoft has all the pieces to put this in a broad approach across numerous platforms - it would give an immediate shippable option to Nokia in WP7, and it could be integrated into everything from Office to Exchange to XBOX to Phone and so on.
WSJ claims this is "close to a lock" which is a real surprise suitor; all the speculation really believed that Facebook was a lock to pull this off. POTENTIALLY a great buy for MS.