Image by Jess3
It’s pretty simple. Numbers. Look at the GeoSocial Universe infographic above. In terms of raw users, Skype is bigger than Facebook. Facebook wants to devour as much of the Internet into their Intranet as possible, and folding Skype into their omelette is an obvious win.
Why Now?
At least partly because Microsoft bought Skype. Microsoft owns 1.3% of Facebook and spent $50 million on ads in 2009.
Now they’ve bought Skype for $8.5 billion and they need it out there, turning tricks. Have you met my friend, Facebook, and her 600 million friends? There you go.
What Next?
Honestly, I think this is more of a Microsoft play than anything else. It looks like a reaction to Google Plus (which has video conferencing ‘hangouts’ coming soon). However, these deals don’t happen overnight.
What MS seems to be doing is leveraging (ie, buying) size. Google is leveraging its own. The question is who has more leverage?
Google has Google. Microsoft owns Skype and has partnerships with Nokia and Facebook
So, the next play is probably… The Nokia Facebook Skype Windows Phone. Which is kinda compelling. A Nokia brand phone which runs Windows and does Skype calling, connecting to all your Facebook friends.
Not bad Microsoft, not bad at all. Competition is fun.
i didn’t know hotmail was bigger than gmail
Good article. U r right. now Google Android hit the market at rocket high. Nokia plan to boom the market introducing new concept. So “The Nokia Facebook Skype Windows Phone” may be a god solution for this….
Yes… I cant believe the place of gmail????