Although Skype was slated to be built into the Windows Phone by end of last year following Microsoft’s acquisition of the video and voice chatting application, there is still no set date for it to be fully integrated.
In a recent interview at this year’s CES in Las Vegas last week, vice president of Microsoft’s Skype division Rick Osterloh was asked about the situation concerning Skype integration into the Windows Phone. He was not able to give an actual date or even a true timeframe, even though Windows Phone team lead Joe Belfiore had previously promised such integration by the end of last year.
Although the Windows Phone currently runs the only operating system that does not as of yet have a complete Skype application feature, Osterloh has left consumers wanting more by stating that Skype is “working on a Windows Phone product that will be coming out soon.”
According to The Telegraph, part of the reason for the delay could be because the integration of Skype into the Windows Phone is potentially controversial. Mobile service providers apparently make quite a bit of their profits off of voice calls, but Skype uses a different architecture for voice chatting which turns it into data traffic. This first of all can turn less of a profit, not to mention also putting more of a strain on network infrastructure. To make up for the possibly lower profit margins, Microsoft will be employing additional tactics to try and persuade users to pay for the premium services that Skype offers, rather than simply using the free version.
There have been speculations that Microsoft will be revealing a Windows Phone version of Skype at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but skeptics suspect that the Windows Phone operation system update later this year will see the full integration many are hoping for.
