Skype is at home with Microsoft

 

Share

0

A: What we think really separates us at the top level is the power of the network. The thing that makes communications so powerful is you can go to the device you want to, it works the way you want it to work and it works that way across different devices, whether it's a smart TV running a Skype application or an iPhone or a Windows Phone or Windows PC. I think in social apps we're No. 2 on the iPad, I think on the iPhone we're running No. 5 overall, and we've been very, very successful on other platforms. When it comes to the world of mobile, increasingly that's been defined by the application ecosystem. Our users are obviously voting with their feet, and that's why we have such great success on iOS, as well as on Android.

Q: Skype will be part of the new Office, but it's not there yet. Why?

A: We're nine months in (with Microsoft). It just takes a little bit of time for planning cycles and cadences. You know, if you put everything in a pot, nothing's technologically hard on its own. It's now aligning those schedules.

Q: Skype and Windows 8?

A: We haven't said much publicly relative to Windows 8 and Skype, but I could say that I think Windows 8 looks like a very transformative operating system. It's certainly unique in that it really crosses desktops and tablets. So stay tuned on that.

Q: Skype and Xbox/Kinect? A natural fit?

A: Definitely. We just haven't talked about when we're going to announce something. For us, Xbox is one gateway into the living room. Just to kind of give you some rough numbers, we're in tens of millions of pre-installed smart TVs today.

Q: How would you describe your Facebook relationship?

A: Facebook has been a great relationship so far. We provide all the underpinnings to the video calling and audio calling, actually, for anyone within the Facebook Web network.

Q: Tell me about what you're doing with education.

A: We have a Skype in the Classroom initiative. We're not necessarily going to focus on education, but we see this community of teachers who are using Skype as a tool to either co-teach or bring experts into the classroom that they couldn't do for financial (or other) reasons. We think we can get a million teachers signed up. It started as a grass-roots effort, and then we put some resources behind the initiative. My personal favorite involved a beehive. A kindergarten teacher was able to Skype a beekeeper into the class so students could see the bees up close.