Tag Archives | Skype

Skype for iPad is Here (For Real This Time)

Posted by Ed Oswald on August 2, 2011 at 10:31 am

After accidentally being released a day early (and subsequently pulled), Skype’s iPad app is now available in the App Store for real. The release ends a long wait for those looking to Skype on their tablets: Skype with video on the iPhone has been available since the beginning of the year, and the iOS app itself for much longer than that.

Skype is playing up the benefits of video chatting on the big screen of the iPad, and I have to agree. While it’s nice to video chat from your phone, I’ve always thought video conferencing does better on bigger screened devices.

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Skype Video Chat Now Works on Android Phones (But Probably Not Yours)

Posted by Jared Newman on June 30, 2011 at 3:39 pm

At last, Skype’s Android app supports video calling, but it’s only available on four phones for now.

Video calling works over Wi-Fi and 3G, and is supported on the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro and Google Nexus S. The common thread among these phones is that they all run Android 2.3, but a Skype representative told me that the company’s working to make video chat available on a wider range of devices shortly after launch.

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Comcast Plans to Offer Skype on TVs

Posted by Jared Newman on June 13, 2011 at 5:26 pm

I don’t know whether Comcast is afraid of Internet-connected TVs and set-top boxes, but that’s the way the cable company’s plans for Skype support look from here.

Comcast will bring Skype to customers on a trial basis in the coming months, All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka reports. The service will require an adaptor box, a high-quality video camera and special remote control that allows text input. It’s not clear how much the service will cost, if anything, and whether it’ll be available to cable customers, Internet subscribers or both. As Kafka notes, it’s certainly possible that Comcast could give the service away to platinum cable subscribers as a “please don’t cut the cord” incentive.

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Microsoft’s Skype Buy Creates Conflict for Rdio [Update]

Posted by Jared Newman on May 10, 2011 at 4:24 pm

All Things D’s Peter Kafka picked up on an interesting wrinkle in Microsoft’s Skype acquisition: Subscription-based music service Rdio may be in trouble.

Skype has a $6 million investment in Rdio, thanks to some lawsuit madness involving Skype’s founders and several Silicon Valley players. Kafka said he’s “pretty sure” Skype and Rdio were planning to deepen ties and drum up more users for the music service.

But Microsoft has its own music service, Zune Pass, and it seems unlikely that the company will want to manage a competitor. For now, neither Microsoft nor Rdio are commenting. (UPDATE: See the end of the post for Rdio’s statement.)

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Okay, Microsoft, Now What?

Posted by Harry McCracken on May 9, 2011 at 10:56 pm

It’s not yet public, but Kara Swisher says it’s confirmed: Microsoft is buying Skype, apparently for $8.5 billion, and apparently with the intention of linking the famous, popular, and unprofitable Internet telephone service with its Windows Live offerings. Kara reports that the deal–which would be Microsoft’s largest ever–will be announced tomorrow morning, conveniently grabbing headlines during the first morning of Google’s IO conference.

Maybe you think the acquisition is a no-brainer, but I suspect that the general initial consensus among non-Redmondians is that it’s an awful lot of money to spend on a company that’s likely to give Microsoft heartburn as it tries to digest it. It’ll be intriguing to see if the formal announcement includes a coherent explanation of why this makes sense: you’d think that part would be easy if Microsoft itself has figured out why this is a good idea.

For now, I’m thinking about the last time a big company bought Skype (albeit for a lot less money) based on the promise of powerful synergies and new opportunities. Let’s read a 2005 press release, shall we?

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