Analysis - Microsoft explains Skype deal

[HEXUS]

At a live web conference there was much bold sentiment but little substance.

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[spoon_]

There goes free audio/video calls over Skype...

This is gonna be next hotmail I think.

[gss03]

Its a very very clever move for Microsoft and their cloud strategy.

Skype has the infrastructure in place for VOIP over the world - tie that into their online Lync offering within Office365 and you have a use anywhere softphone/ instant messaging / conference calling platform. All that can be controlled from your laptop while slurping your double caramel macchiato in Starbucks™

[Lucio]

There's definitely an interesting way forward for Microsoft, could it be that they're planning on offering a version of Skype that ties more directly into their corporate plans? Offering VoIP messaging for business users in a secure fashion is something that would appeal, particularly with the ability to get a client on your smartphone.

[gss03]

Who knows what Steve Ballmer is thinking, but hearing all of this while talking about lots of cloudy things at MS Scotland's offices made the speaker speculate what Microsoft's purchase was all about.

Lync 2010 online already ties (Federates) into Live Messenger, AOL and connectivty to XMPP gateways is coming. Adding Skype into this mix just fortifies their position within the IM market. Also, if everyone has client software on their PC to do IM also just imagine that as an advertising platform and the revenue through that.

[Splash]

There's definitely an interesting way forward for Microsoft, could it be that they're planning on offering a version of Skype that ties more directly into their corporate plans? Offering VoIP messaging for business users in a secure fashion is something that would appeal, particularly with the ability to get a client on your smartphone.

They already have the corporate offering in Lync server (Which I'm about to start having a play with at work with a view to setting up video/audio/web conferencing) which is available as a hosted solution or can be deployed inside the corporate firewall, as well as the ability to federate with other partners (for example to video conference with customers/suppliers).

[3dcandy]

I reckon you're all a little wide of the mark, this has xbox+kinect+xbox live written all over it!

[sp3n]

I reckon you're all a little wide of the mark, this has xbox+kinect+xbox live written all over it!

yeah you're right, they are avoiding their most profitable areas and they are spending 8.5 billion dollers just for xbox...

[lego batman]

Seriously though, see here from the NYT:

“Skype gives Microsoft instant size and scale in this emerging market,” said Howard Anderson, a senior lecturer at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The merger with Skype, if successful, could give Microsoft a leading consumer Internet service — something it has lacked — and help lift its other businesses, like smartphone software, Office productivity programs and Xbox video game consoles, analysts say.
In doing so, Microsoft aims to keep people seamlessly connected at work or at home. “We want to enable communications across people’s lives,” Mr. Ballmer said in a press conference in San Francisco."

Or MSNBC:

"But many of the people trying to wrap their heads around the deal are missing an important point — the more than 10 million Microsoft cameras connected to television screens in homes around the world.
That’s how many Xbox 360 Kinect sensors have been sold in six months. The devices already have video chat capabilities, but the feature has been relatively low profile. Just imagine what would happen if Microsoft brought the Skype brand — and its 145 million connected users — into the picture. That’s a powerful combination of brands with the potential to get a lot of attention and usage.
Suddenly this deal seems more interesting, doesn’t it?
Skype up to this point has made its move into the living room through Skype-enabled TVs and TV-compatible webcams. But a combination with Microsoft would give the Skype brand a major new inroad, while giving Kinect another killer app, rivaling Cisco and others in consumer video-conferencing."

Looks like they are aiming at xbox after all.

[ISHOULDCOCO]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05...t_buys_skype1/

They paid FAR , FAR too much for this.

Skype profits are tiny by comparison. It is just a service.
MS could have integrated SIp based VOIP into Xbox live , messenger, W7mobile etc as a matter of policy.
I dont understand what they were buying >?
A brand ? A loyal customer base ?

Just looks like an attempt to deny the competitors

MS share price went down on the news of the deal

COCO