Skype’s forthcoming Windows Phone app will integrate deeper than the Skype app for both the iPhone and Android devices. After its $8.5 billion acquisition by Microsoft is approved by European regulators (expected by the end of the year), the future Skype division of Microsoft has plans to make Skype functionality an integral component of the Windows Phone experience. Skype’s VP of products and marketing, Neil Stevens, says that Skype plans on creating a different kind of app, something that feels part of the phone.
“A Windows Phone app, if done well, can show people what a really great Skype experience is like when there are no hardware or vendor limitations,” says Stevens.
Apple does not currently allow Skype to access the iPhone’s video processor or its address book. Android permits Skype to access the phone’s address book, but also blocks it from accessing the video processor. According to Stevens, the level of Skype’s new integration with Facebook is an example of how he wants the app to function in Windows Phone.
This experience will also be extended into the rest of Microsoft’s ecosystem including the Xbox platform, its corporate Lync communication system and upcoming Windows 8 devices.
While at various stages of development, none of Skype’s current plans for Microsoft’s product line will not go live until the acquisition of Skype is formally approved
