Skype co-founders transfer ownership

Skype cofounders have agreed to transfer ownership of the remaining Skype technology to eBay, allowing eBay to complete its sale of a majority stake to an investor consortium, reports PC World.

Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom will join the investor consortium to obtain a 14% stake in Skype. The other consortium partners will own a 56% stake in Skype, while eBay will retain 30%.

The financial details remain unchanged and eBay will get $1.9 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close in this year's fourth quarter, putting the value of Skype at $2.75 billion.

Mobile voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is expected to increase in popularity in the next four years, according to an In-Stat report, says 8el.

By 2013, there will be 287 million mobile VOIP users in the world, generating revenues of $35.2 billion, research from In-Stat has shown.

This is because mobile VOIP is now moving beyond being just a mechanism to bypass international calling charges but has developed into something more sophisticated.

Snom Technology has signed a partnership with Estos to deliver VOIP and unified communications to medium-sized businesses and enterprises, according to Zycko.

The new Estos ECSTA for snom middleware allows snom's 8XX and 3XX series intelligent VOIP telephones to support additional unified communication applications in 64-bit and 32-bit Windows operating system environments.

Several telephony functions can also be taken advantage of through Microsoft TAPI-enabled applications, including consultation calls, alternating calls, single-step transfers and setting and receiving do not disturb statuses.