Skype To Be Dumped From Android & Apple Devices
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Speculation is mounting that Skype will not be available in the future on Apple or Android devices after Microsoft acquired the Company yesterday. However it is not known what will happen with Skype services on LG, Panasonic and Samsung TVs.

Once the deal is complete Microsoft said: “Skype will only support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities.”

Analysts are saying that the decision by Microsoft to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cash is an expensive move and is nearly three times the $2.9 billion eBay sold a majority of Skype to a group of investors in 2009, prompting many to question the deal.

The deal is tipped to push Google and Apple to launch global competitors to Skype; however some carriers including the likes of Telstra are happy to see Skype restricted to a Microsoft environment which is currently under pressure from Apple and a new Google OS. 

Google already has Talk, though the search company only offers free calls in the USA.

Sid Parakh, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen said $8.5 billion is about 10 times Skype’s 2010 revenue, and 30 times more than net income with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation. In other words, Microsoft paid too much for Skype.

“We see this as a glaring oversight on Microsoft’s part considering that Skype was up for sale just 18 months ago at a significantly lower valuation,” Parakh said in a note to investors on Wednesday.

Parakh said he liked the acquisition because it will enable real-time communications across a range of Microsoft’s products and services like Lync, Outlook, Windows Phone 7, XBOX, Kinect and Windows Live.

Tech Flash, a Seattle based web site, said that overall, they believe the ultimate success of the acquisition will rest on Microsoft’s ability to execute on product integration in a timely manner and retain key Skype talent. While this is Microsoft’s largest acquisition ever, its track record on its second largest acquisition – aQuantive – isn’t impressive in our mind.

Skype is Microsoft’s most expensive acquisition. No. 2 was aQuantive. Microsoft paid $6 billion for the Seattle-based digital advertising company. But the results were disappointing. The deal did not improve Microsoft’s ad revenues, many of aQuantive’s top executives have left, and one of aQuantive’s biggest units was sold off.