Skype for Windows Phone version 1.0 released, no longer considered beta
Microsoft promised a full version of its Skype for Windows Phone software in April back when the original beta was released at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. The company delivered on that promise today …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft hit the April deadline it set when the Skype beta for Windows Phone debuted at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, moving the app out of beta and shipping version 1.0. It is the same 'goes gold' milestone Skype marked on the Windows desktop back in February 2009, now applied to Microsoft's phone platform a year after the acquisition closed.
The pickup was broad across the Microsoft-watching press — ZDNet, Engadget, AllThingsD and wpcentral all carried the story on the day — which reflects how closely the health of the Windows Phone app catalog is being tracked rather than any surprise in the release itself.
First-order effects
- Windows Phone users get their first non-beta Skype client, with Microsoft having publicly committed to the April ship date at MWC and delivering on it.
- Microsoft closes one of the more visible gaps in the Windows Phone app lineup, removing an easy talking point for carriers and reviewers comparing the platform against iOS and Android.
Second-order effects
- Rival platforms feel less pressure from this release than Microsoft does internally: Skype now has to be maintained as a first-party asset across Windows Phone, iOS and Android simultaneously, stretching the integration work begun after the acquisition.
- For handset makers betting on Windows Phone, a flagship communications app at version 1.0 strengthens the pitch that the platform's catalog is maturing fast enough to justify shelf space.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Microsoft will keep converting acquisitions into platform-exclusive or platform-first releases to differentiate Windows Phone — using owned services like Skype as leverage the app-gap argument can't easily counter.
- The broader shift is toward communications apps as table-stakes platform infrastructure: whichever OS vendor owns the calling/messaging layer controls a default position that third-party apps on rival platforms cannot match.
The trend: Microsoft is folding its acquired services like Skype directly into Windows Phone to close the platform's app gap with first-party software rather than waiting on third-party developers.