Almost a year after Microsoft's announcement of its acquisition of Skype, the popular video calling service is finally making its debut on the Windows Phone platform.
Skype for Windows Phone Beta is now available for download and features a unique design and interface, dubbed “Metro”. The cubist design is in line with the design ethic of Windows Phone, as well as Windows 8.
The functionality of the app remains the same, however; allowing users to make free audio and video calls to Skype contacts over 3G, 4G or WiFi, or calls to landlines and mobile numbers using Skype credit.
Rick Osterloh, VP of product at Skype, says the release now makes Skype available on almost all of the leading mobile smartphone operating systems. The final version of the app will become available in April.
“This is only the beginning for Skype for Windows Phone... it's just going to get better and better. We see incredible potential to include Skype capabilities in Windows Phone in order to enable a great experience,” says Osterloh.
In order to run the application, devices need to run the Windows Phone 7.5 OS.
Disruption potential
Ovum principal analyst, Tony Cripps, says the Skype for Windows Phone app fills an obvious application gap on Microsoft's smartphone platform.
“We expect this to change in future iterations, with Skype becoming a more pervasive part of the Windows Phone software platform and experience, with its functionality integrated tightly with applications and services across the phone, increasing its utility.”
Cripps says the announcement is an important step in Microsoft's strategy to deeply integrate Skype into its product portfolio. “A pervasive Skype has much greater potential to disrupt existing models of communication than one that is dependent on users proactively choosing to install it.
“In this capacity, it could begin to act as a social 'glue', helping to drive usage of the service and furthering sales of Skype-enabled Microsoft products considerably in future. It could eventually help blur the lines between business users and consumers, with Skype increasingly seen as simply a convenient tool to communication available anywhere,” concludes Cripps.
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