Skype VP says company isn't developing software for Windows Phone 7 (Update: it's 'on the roadmap')
By Vlad Savov 
posted May 13th 2010 3:26AM
posted May 13th 2010 3:26AM
Consider the bombshell dropped. Skype, the godfather of VoIP apps and an increasingly ubiquitous piece of mobile as well as desktop software, has just let it be known that it's not planning on bringing its goodies to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS. Dan Neary, the company's Vice President for the Asia Pacific region, said that it's "not developing software for the new Windows Mobile software due later this year," but seemed reluctant to expand on the reasons why. Perhaps, like Mozilla, the Skype devs felt they weren't getting access to the right tools. Whatever the reason, this would be a major competitive disadvantage for Microsoft's great new hope on the mobile front, which is already expected to launch with a few things missing. Then again, we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves as this isn't an official renouncement from Skype, merely a statement of the status quo -- and from a regional exec at that. All we can take away from it for now is that the road ahead looks a bit bumpier than before for WP7.Update: Looks like this quote might've been taken out of context. MobileTechWorld followed up and learned that while Dan Neary left out Windows Mobile and Windows Phone from a list of currently supported platforms (which makes sense, since one is dying and the other isn't out yet), he said Windows Phone 7 "is on the roadmap." The question seems to be more of a "when" than an "if" they'll start building it.
How in the world would they be able to write a Skype client without the ability to manipulate sockets? Native code isn't required to do a Skype client but you can't implement Skype's p2p protocol via http-only APIs.
I don't even see why this is news. It was obvious from the first look at the SDK documentation.
Skype realizes that they have just isolated themselves out of about 9% of the smartphone market right?
Google acquires Skype for Google voice purposes?
Ouch.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....
Oh well... One less WIn7HubExperience in the world
it's not all doom and gloom; while there may be a lot of people that use skype, there are a lot more that don't.
Something fishing is about to happen. A competitor is going to buy over skype.
Although, I haven't used skype for years now. I used Fring or any number of VOIP apps/services, and on some phones, voip is built in.
Then we have the XDA guys. They'll whip something out for it. No problem. Those guys are psychotic.
WP7 won't need skype in any event.
could you ask them if they are developing skype for the ps3? because that would be pretty cool.
eskype windows phone,
A: probably their deal with Verizon precludes them on any other platform for a while anyways
B: Wimpy7s doesn't have enough native APIs for Skype to work with, and Skype is probably still unhappy with their Windows Mobile dev experience in the past
Odd but a decision that I expect will change over time. Certainly Skype is very useful application on a mobile telephone (we use the iPhone version to call family overseas) so I fully expect to see it for Windows Phone 7 unless the platform manages to crash and burn on release (unlikely but you never know).
I haven't kept up with Skype news. Have they been regurgitated by Ebay?
With all its limitations, I'd be surprised if the first WP7 phones even had front cameras.
Android 2.2 is awesome, and Android 3.0 -come next holiday season- will blow WP7 out of the water.
@TareG Maybe...i don't see any reason why Android should be better then WP7...can you give me some reasons?
@bluefisch200 The WP7 prototype they showed on March had front camera
this is not good,not good at all,like the tip of the iceberg or something ,which is shame as it is a great phone full of good ideas but,more and more android is looking better and better then them all.
but anyways i am sure someone will quickly feel the void left by skype ,maybe,and make lots of money from it,like fring maybe :D ? .
Well, WinMo 6.5, looks like we've got a long way to to together before this gets worked out.
Well, thats only Skype's loss. First not developing for Android (excluding the half-ass app for Verizon), now abandoning Win 7... Good thing there are Fring and Nimbuzz!
@Centurion It could potentially be a loss to Microsoft. If there are people who will take into consideration whether a phone can run Skype very easily, then they probably won't buy a WP7 phone at this point.
Well, Skype isn't developing a client for Android neither.
@Gwydion Skype Lite has been on Android for over a year.
@IT expert Skype Lite have been pulled from market, it doesn't have pure voip calls and it works only in selected countries.
So, I don't count it
@Gwydion
The Verizon deal killed true skype service for any future handsets.
There is a deeper problem with Windows Mobile 7.
Skype and Mozilla FIrefox pulled out for technical reasons. The platform is not able to support complex apps very well. The APIs are underdeveloped. The speed is very slow, as it is in managed code. Microsoft will not give developers access to faster native code.
Windows Phone 7 is in trouble.
I really don't like how Windows Phone 7 is shaping up :(
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA! this platform keeps sounding better and better. I wonder who will cease development next?
Doesnt bother me any. I've had my iphone almost two years and have used skype on it exactly once. Have my eye on a win 7 phone once they come out, of course the new iphone might make me change my mind but I dont think it will.
Skype isn't quite as ubiquitous as this article makes it sound. You can't get Skype on Android either unless you're on Verizon.
The problem Skype always had with Windows Mobile was that they could never get access to the ear piece of Windows Mobile phones only the speakerphone. If you run Skype on ANY Windows Mobile phone, it's using the speaker phone all the time and not the ear piece unless you plug in a headset. Skype always complained about this but they could never solve that part hence their announcement sometime back to cease developing Skype for Windows Mobile. They've even removed the Skype cabs for Windows Mobile from their website.
I'll bet that they're not interested in running into the same scenario with Win Phone 7 and as such are cutting their losses ahead of time. Seeing as they might have been poking at the emulator for Win Phone 7 by now they've probably come to the conclusion that the same problem exists and not worth the investment. Only time will tell really.
@merovingian
That's incorrect. Skype works perfectly on the Sony Ericsson X1 because Sony and Skype actually made a tailored Skype panel for the X1.
Skype has been on a downhill since their "delay" with Skype over 3G for the iPhone and then their 'out of nowhere' contract deal with Verizon. I hope they go straight down the hell and then realize their mistakes and then rise from the ashes with some damn sense again.
Probably because WP7 doesn't let them write in native code, which for a VOIP app, is probably quite important. In fact, Microsoft's insistence on managed apps only (and currently, C# only), means that a lot of multi-platform apps such a Skype won't make it to WP7 because they''re currently using shared C++ routines across platforms.
maybe my theory of the "i Pad nano" on Verizon so they can break the 5 year at&t contract and use only VoIP thru Skype as a major client with a 59.99 data plan.... no cellular plan needed... Skype and apple seem to like each other in the OS 4.0 unveiling with background VoIP possible in 4.0....
UglyStupidPhone7.. .dont waste your time
Just one more company dropping out of the WM developing game.
They've had enough shit from MS to fill 200 barrels, and it keeps coming.
WP7 will be the death of windows mobile.
Bye Bye Skype. You already had opulled the plug on my WM 6.5 phone so I am not surprised at this re 7.0.
The issue here will be that Windows Phone 7 requires you to develop in .NET and Silverlight (or use the XNA gaming framework).
For Skype that means a ground-up rewrite on an as-yet unproven brand new platform that is replacing a platform with single-digit market share.
I wouldn't be surprised if they still have one or two people working on it just in case the platform is a hit, so I read this as saying they're not going to burn a ton of cash porting to .NET to be ready when the phone is first released...
I really love Skype on my PC. I've tried it on BB and WM and it sucks. It might be the carriers filtering skype so you'll use minutes but either way it is horrible on a cell phone so I'm not too worried about this.
Things I do care about with WP7 that I haven't heard much about - tethering with WP7 and voice dial by Bluetooth.
Social networking phone, Windows Messenger's VoIP would seem to be a better fit than Skype. Skype has been a fad built on a VoIP con for several years and this is not a 'bad' thing except for the people that are sold on Skype or seem to think it is the only way to do interactive voice and video.
As for the technical, even the Silverlight tools provided would be enough to recreate the Skype client completely, including the network side in addition to voice and video. (They could even tap XNA 4 if they needed more power for the client, but there is no reason they should.)
Skype seems to have political/business motives and it could hurt them in areas far beyond the WP7 device if they keep closing the door.
This reminds me a bit of 1990 when Windows 3.0 was a 'side' technology as viewed by companies like Wordperfect and Lotus, and even when Microsoft offered to help them develop Wordperfect or 123 for Windows they rejected the help stating they had the market and didn't need to run on Windows. A couple of years later they were suing Microsoft because the world wanted Windows versions and they had nothing to offer the people.
webOS anyone?
Uh. . .
He said Windows Mobile.
Perhaps he really did mean Windows Mobile and not Windows Phone 7?
Did no one think of that?
The phone's interface is it's competitive disadvantage. I love how people are so sure Google, HTC, MS are gonna deliver and never...ever do. Even as featured restricted as Apple products can be the hardware build is amazing. So when MS figures out how to really do something innovative, they'll have people beating down there door to develop. Not so much as we speak.
Could it *possibly* have something to do with the current Verizon deal?
If Big Red's still calling the shots on it, they might be waiting for them to greenlight it. We don't know what WP7 sets are heading this way yet so there's probably plenty of time to work things out even if it's not ready quite for launch.
WM7 - Meh.
I really want to know when Skype is coming to ps3