Updates to Skype for iPhone & Skype for iPad Improves Performance & Adds Photo Sharing
Millions of people use Skype for iPhone or Skype for iPad each month. Today, with updates to both apps, we are introducing a frequently requested feature: Photo Sharing for iOS.
Context & Ripple Effects
Photo Sharing closes a gap in an iOS line that has been built out incrementally: video calling arrived on iPhone in December 2010, and a dedicated iPad-optimized client followed in August 2011. The August 2012 update is the first since Microsoft's acquisition, and it lands just days after reviewers praised the new Skype app for Windows 8 as far better designed than the iPad version — a pointed reminder that the iOS client was trailing the rest of the portfolio.
The release also follows a rocky stretch on trust: in late July 2012 Skype publicly addressed community concerns over security and privacy practices while denying specific media reports about them. Shipping a long-requested consumer feature is the product-side counterweight to that episode.
First-order effects
- Millions of monthly Skype for iPhone and iPad users gain in-app photo sharing plus performance fixes, removing one reason to switch to a rival messaging app mid-conversation.
- Microsoft inherits a visible to-do list on iOS: with reviewers rating the Windows 8 client above the iPad app, the update signals the iOS codebase is being brought up to standard rather than left behind.
Second-order effects
- Competing mobile messaging services that already treat photo exchange as table stakes lose a differentiation point, pushing competition back to call quality, cost, and cross-platform reach.
- Comcast's $9.95-per-month Xfinity Skype rollout shows Skype being embedded into pay-TV and carrier endpoints; every feature added to the core client raises the value of those distribution deals without extra integration work.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, messaging clients converge on a common baseline — text, presence, video, and now photos — so vendors compete on ecosystem breadth instead of individual features, which favors owners of large multi-platform portfolios like Microsoft.
- Feature parity across desktop, mobile, and living-room endpoints becomes the benchmark users judge Skype by, making uneven clients on any single platform a reputational liability rather than a niche complaint.
The trend: Under Microsoft, Skype is shifting from a video-calling utility toward a full messaging platform, with iOS releases marching through the same feature checklist its desktop and Windows 8 clients already meet.