Microsoft’s Upcoming Acquisition of Skype for $8.5 Billion

Microsoft’s bid to acquire Skype is said to be its biggest acquisition till date. It is believed to be around $8.5 billion, which is enough to deduce how important it is for Microsoft. For those who do not know the potential of Skype, we would like to explain that Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet; free within the users of Skype service and extremely economical to landlines and mobile phones. Skype has been bought and sold by eBay earlier. Skype is adding new features and functions to its services along with the streaming video service too.


Its potential can be estimated from the fact that it has 663 million registered users, out of which 145 million are connected users. So it makes it a very important foray for Microsoft and for the entire online industry.

skype

Though it is obviously an effort to counter the increasing power of Google on the Internet, there are natural fears and apprehensions too. Such as the previous products as such Hotmail have been on a decline since it have been taken over by Microsoft. Malware is another issue, which is bothering Microsoft products users. So product neglect is among the biggest fears the Skype users have after it being taken over by Microsoft, though Steve Ballmer of Microsoft has assured that he would continue to support non-Microsoft platform.

The advantages Skype brings to Microsoft are its user base which is larger than that of Twitter, its mobile interface which supports Windows Phone. Microsoft is already hugely successful in the areas of household services and that includes its TV services Xbox Live, which anyway is more successful than Apple and Google TV.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *