Microsoft buys internet telephony provider Skype for a cool $8.5bn. So what does the takeover mean for Microsoft?



With a user-base of some 663 million global users, Skype's popularity and reach shouldn't be underestimated. On the contrary it must come as something of a healthy acquisition for Microsoft - despite the hefty price tag.



Lets take a look at the weapons Microsoft currently wields:



Windows Live Messenger

Windows Phone

Microsoft Lync (Communicator)

Xbox (including Xbox LIVE and Kinect)




As you can see, there's certainly some overlap with Microsoft's existing software and it's new play-thing. Windows Live Messenger provides exemplary free instant messaging, along with voice and video call functionality, whereas Lync is best-described as Messenger's business equivalent.



Marry the functionality of the video conferencing giant with any of these services and Microsoft would theoretically welcome the 600 odd million Skype users onto its network. Impressive numbers that the Microsoft's and Google's of this world would bite a proverbial arm off for.



Steve Ballmer said this of the takeover:



"Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world...Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world."



Microsoft's promising new portfolio certainly indicates massive untapped potential; Kinect is being enjoyed in a record number of living rooms across the world and Windows Phone has gotten off to a steady start, it would be a shrewd move (on Microsoft's part) if they were to integrate Skype's telephony and voIP capabilities here.



Wired.com point out that Skype's existing users are used to paying for the service, so how would this arrangement work going forward (especially when twinned with Microsoft's own Messenger service)?



ZDNet comments on the move and states that the takeover solidifies Microsoft's multiplatform strategy.




Some commentators have even gone so far as suggesting Microsoft look to the takeover as the future of mobile telephony. Look far to the future, to a wi-fi enabled landscape and a world devoid of mobile networks and carriers... One thing’s for sure, something needs to be done to win the telecoms war and maybe free voIP calls via Skype-enabled Windows Phones is the savior we've been searching for.



As far as we're concerned it's far too early to tell, we should instead wait for the dust to settle and see what emerges from this (potentially exciting) new development.

source: msn.com