Five-months after first being announced, Microsoft closed its acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion. A couple of interesting points from the Press Release:
Skype CEO Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Skype Division of Microsoft immediately, reporting directly to Ballmer.
[…]
The acquisition remains under review in a few countries, and will be completed in those countries when such reviews are closed.
I can only hope Skype’s new owner puts the breaks on ads playing while on a call. The ad bar at the bottom doesn’t bother me on the iPad, but if my call is interrupted mid-way with an in-call audio/video ad, I will be forced to retire my Skype account.
Microsoft continues to pen licensing deals with Android device manufactures, with Quanta Computer being the latest. This is just another name on Microsoft’s list, seeing as they have already worked out agreements with Android device makers Acer, Amazon, HTC, Samsung and ViewSonic. From the article on The Next Web:
The dollar figures involved here are non-trivial. Rumors have floated that OEMs are paying between 5 and 15 dollars per unit shipped to Microsoft, effectively making Redmond a massively profitable player in the Android market. And all it has to do is collect the checks. With giants such as HTC and Samsung on board, the pattern appears to be set.
With Microsoft experiencing issues growing their mobile user base, it appears Android may actually be benefiting them more than they would like to admit.
Microsoft has recently experienced issues communicating the future of Zune hardware. They initially announced the end of Zune hardware a week ago on their support page, only to retract the message via a Twitter post. Fret no more, the Zune’s support page (again) declares that Zune hardware is no more:
We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.
On Monday, Microsoft announced that Zune hardware was no more, and that they would focus their efforts on Windows Phone moving forward. From the original Zune support page post:
We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players.
According to a tweet from @ZuneSupport, that announcement was made in error:
We are still supporting the Zune HD hardware. No official info has been released stating hardware is being discontinued. ^SM
What exactly is going on here? The only certainty I have is that Microsoft’s teams need to talk before posting public messages.
More info can be found at WinRumors
It’s official: Microsoft announced on Monday that it will no longer produce Zune hardware, ending its 5-year run. From the Zune’s support page:
We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.
This should come as no surprise. With iPod sales being cannibalized by the iPhone, more consumers are moving towards using their smartphones as digital media players. From AppleInsider’s coverage of Apple’s Q3 2011 conference call:
iPod sales continued their steady decline in the most recent quarter, slipping 20 percent year over year to 7.54 million.
If the industry-leading iPod was taking a hit in sales, I could only imagine how the Zune was faring.
