After clearing all the regulatory hurdles in the EU and USA, Skype is now a division of Microsoft.
For the first few months we likely won't see much change in how Skype behaves, but over time, we will. For many Skype users the change won't impact them, but for some, expect to see some things end.
My predictions-no more effort on business, especially the Enterprise. The departure of David Gurle a few months back was the tell in that direction, but other moves have also been made, including an internal resturtucturing over the last few months that has realigned power under a more consumer centric team led by Neal Stevens. Stevens came out of Apple and Apple Retail in Europe. The bigger indicator though is Microsoft's push of Lync. So much has been invested in Lync that there's no way Skype is going to derail that.
Next is mobile. Skype's mobile strategy has always been rather "mobile operator" oriented. That will continue, but with a different twist. They'll ride the coat tails of Microsoft's mobile oriented efforts to work with the leading carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange, etc.) and likely begin work on a killer app for Windows 8 Mobile.
Interoperability with Messenger. In the past Yahoo and Microsoft worked on integration between their two IM clients. Yahoo's juggernaut management approach, the defection of the architects behind it (mostly Jeff Bonforte now CEO of Xobni) and the overall lack of focus there meant that dev work never really got past the cross network chatting—YAWN. Now with Skype part of the Microsoft family, the interoperability opportunity is too large to pass up. Start with Skype's open sourced codec, SILK, provide common directory, and the community and accessibility will only go up.
For now, most of what we see will be the same, but one thing's for certain, Skype on the Mac will likely suffer. Already the stepchild in development efforts, watch Skype for Windows excel but Mac and mobile users likely will feel left out for a while. I smell opportunity….(note I'm an adviser to HookFlash)
