Microsoft buys Skype—and pays some 8.5 billion dollars for the popular communication service, more than Facebook and Google have bid. At first glance, difficult to understand, as Skype is well-known for their free phone calls. However, they earn money nevertheless: More than eight million Skype customers pay, for example to call regular phones all over the world—or because they are using Skype’s Premium services, like in the office.
For Microsoft, Skype is absolutely interesting: Microsoft is probably going to offer communication services to their business clients. Chat, phone calls, video conferences—all of these are possible with Skype. Microsoft can integrate all these into the office suite Microsoft Office. This would be useful indeed, and Microsoft would start earning from the communication. This could make Microsoft an important world communication provider.
Skype could be interesting for Microsoft’s cell phones, too: The software giant can now start offering sleek communication services on Windows Phones, services that people really use, as really everybody knows Skype. Taking over Skype could change the way we communicate in offices forever—and could be a real chance for Microsoft.