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Kara Swisher of BoomTown has confirmed that Microsoft has finalized the deal to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. According to her Microsoft will announce the news early in the morning tomorrow.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier tonight that Microsoft–in what would be its most aggressive acquisition in the digital space–was zeroing in on buying Skype for $8.5 billion all in.Sources told BoomTown tonight that the deal for the online telephony giant is actually done and will be announced early tomorrow morning.
Assuming she is right on the news, I want to list out some of my initial concerns with the acquisition. Please keep in mind that this is not a well thought out analysis but fears of a hardcore Skype user.
- My biggest worry is that Skype as we know it today, as a great consumer communication app, may cease to exist. I have no evidence to back up this claim but this is my hunch feeling based on Microsoft’s past
- Already Skype for Mac is lagging behind Skype for Windows. There is no guarantee that Microsoft will pool its resources and bring parity with Windows version. If Office for Mac is any indication, we can expect them to focus on the Mac version but there is no guarantee
- Skype for Linux may end up in deadpool. Given Microsoft’s history with Linux, I am fairly confident that Skype’s Linux support will be ending soon
- Skype video chat for Android dead of arrival. Even before Microsoft’s acquisition, Skype Android client has been lagging behind iOS clients. Skype video chat has been missing on most Android devices and with this acquisition, we can say goodbye for any such possibility
These are my immediate concerns and I feel that Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype is a disaster for the consumers. In fact, it is my opinion that acquisition by any of the three contenders, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, is bad for the Skype users.
However, if we see from Microsoft’s perspective, it is a good move and will help them in their Office 365 efforts. Check out Om Malik’s and Dave Michels’ posts to get a better perspective on what this acquisition means. Hopefully, I get to offer a more rational analysis after the dust settles down on this.
Related articles
- Microsoft Buying Skype Would Make No Sense (MSFT) (businessinsider.com)
- Microsoft decides it wants a piece of Skype too (geek.com)
- Skype rumored making deal with Microsoft (electronista.com)
- Report: Facebook in talks to buy Skype (holykaw.alltop.com)
- Skype Acquired by Microsoft: 3 Fears & 3 Hopes (readwriteweb.com)
- Would Microsoft’s Skype buy strengthen Lync or push it off a cliff? (go.theregister.com)
- Microsoft Pays Premium for Skype (adweek.com)
- Microsoft Buys Skype For $8.5 Billion, Now What? (searchengineland.com)
- Skype Acquisition Tale: Microsoft & Facebook Battle it out (convonix.com)
Microsoft has no interest in developing Linux versions of any of their software. They would rather use Skype as another hook to drag and pin down their consumers to the company’s flagship Windows OS/Office black hole. They may do some PR moves to pretend that they “care” some about other platforms, however this is not their business and part of larger strategic goal. Skype for Linux is now more dead than it was half-dead before acquisition.
I have been a paying customer of skype for many years now. As a linux user, I guess I will have to cancel my subscription now. It really sucks. I hope we get a good video conferencing alternative soon (that doesn’t keep crashing that is). Empathy with jabber sucks big time, just like pidgin. Same with Ekiga.
But I’ll be missing the landline phone service to north america the most.