Microsoft buys Skype ...

Woohoo now we can all expect to be auto signed in to MSN when we load skype up.

As if we are incapable of doing so ourselves if we ****ing wanted to.

*mini rant about always getting auto signed in to MSN when checking emails*
 
LizardKing said:
No other reason i can think of, but for 5billion (or whatever the figure is) I'm sure they could develop a far better tailor made solution for a half of that!

Thats a crazy amount of money!
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I have a feeling is MS want to have the IP and patents, and not risk getting sued by Skype. This is often the case when a company is purchased for way over its value by a large company, not the technology itself but the legal issues surrounding it.

But I have no idea if skype really has much technology that is patented and would be useful to MS.
 
i get the reason they bought it

i get the technology, the user base, the IP, the patents blah blah

what i dont get is the price

just seems SO over priced. i mean 8.5 BILLION $ really .
 
Think that they will halt iPhone support? Or Apple will stop allowing Skype?

Not really a fan of this deal really, M$ seems to make things worse, and Skype is a product I use daily and one of my favourite pieces of online software.. Time will tell if my prejudice is valid I suppose...
 
I suddenly feel like the only person who has never used Skype. I actually don't want to talk to people over the internet, I am happy with typing.
 
Ignore the consumer side and think Lync/Office 365. MS (per user) are ridiculously cheap in the unified comms corp space, add some funky skype tech and a user base in the consumer world and you have a product that spans the market place with a chunk of users.

As video will be driving this play, whoever has the majority of users will win (ignoring standards).
 
Paul11 said:
i get the reason they bought it

i get the technology, the user base, the IP, the patents blah blah

what i dont get is the price

just seems SO over priced. i mean 8.5 BILLION $ really .
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For the tech, name, and customer base it's not bad.

That works out at about £9 per registered user of Skype, or £90 per daily user (so probably some figure between the two for regular users), that alone isn't a bad cost for the customers - companies will spend quite large chunks of cash to get a new customer in many markets.

If the tech/patents skype hold are also taken into account (I would be amazed if they didn't have some potentially important ones), that adds up, and if MS has a plan for them (which seems most likely, as MS aren't normally silly when it comes to buying companies up, unlike some companies), then I'd guess it's probably seen as the cheapest way to get what they want.

Remember this is a telecoms company with many millions of users, and relatively low overheads - if MS wants to get into the proper VOIP business this is likely a bargain as it gives them the code, the apps and the customers instantly.
I could mean that within weeks everyone gets a minor Skype update with the MS logo, whilst MS get to start accessing the code to get it integrated fully with say MSN without having to worry about potential patent disputes.
 
Werewolf said:
If the tech/patents skype hold are also taken into account (I would be amazed if they didn't have some potentially important ones), that adds up, and if MS has a plan for them (which seems most likely, as MS aren't normally silly when it comes to buying companies up, unlike some companies), then I'd guess it's probably seen as the cheapest way to get what they want.
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People keep saying "its for the tech" or talking about these amazing patents, but what are they, exactly?

The value here is:
Hatter The Mad said:
They want an international head-start above Google Voice, and they got it.

Over time we will see control over services taken away from mobile operators who will simply become data carriers over time. Skype, Google Voice (etc) will be the new services operators on top of these carriers.

The value of this for Microsoft isn't that unobvious.
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Like I said earlier Hatter.

The SIP protocol and VoIP with either hosted PBX or on-site PBX systems. It's going to be massive business.
 
Paul11 said:
i get the reason they bought it

i get the technology, the user base, the IP, the patents blah blah

what i dont get is the price

just seems SO over priced. i mean 8.5 BILLION $ really .
Click to expand...

8.5$ billion is probably cheaper than decades of law suits + not being able to produce a product they want to.
 
Seems like a good deal to me, integrate into the OS, free for private users, charge for business functions - conference calls etc.
 
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