Skype preparing to launch video messaging and ‘Metro’ design
Skype is preparing to update its range of clients to support a new video messaging option, The Verge has learned. The feature will launch in time for the holidays, possibly as early as next month — according to sources familiar with Skype's plans.
Context & Ripple Effects
The report lands mid-way through a busy 2012 platform push by Skype, now under Microsoft ownership: the [[a:none|]]company shipped a Linux client brought to parity with other desktops in June, and Comcast began selling Skype video calling on Xfinity at $9.95 per month in May. In August, reviewers called the Windows 8 Skype app far better designed than the iPad version — so a 'Metro' restyle of the whole client range would extend an alignment already visible on Microsoft's newest platform.
The video-messaging detail is sourced, not confirmed — both the holiday timing ('possibly as early as next month') and the Metro design are flagged as plans rather than announcements. Still, the story travelled fast: CNET, SiliconANGLE and LiveSide.net all ran versions of it the same day, which says something about how much attention Skype's product roadmap commands heading into the holidays.
First-order effects
- If the sources are right, Skype users get asynchronous video messaging across its clients for the holidays instead of having to schedule live calls, alongside a unified 'Metro' visual language replacing the current mixed client designs.
- Microsoft's Windows 8 push gains a flagship first-party app whose design already drew praise from reviewers in August, reinforcing the Metro aesthetic across desktop and tablet.
Second-order effects
- Comcast's $9.95-per-month Xfinity Skype bundle now sits next to a free client-side feature set that keeps expanding, tightening the case for operators to treat Skype as infrastructure rather than an upsell.
- Rival consumer video and messaging apps face pressure to match store-and-send video on the same cross-platform footprint Skype has been standardising since its June Linux parity release.
Third-order effects
- The move points toward recorded video becoming a default layer of personal communication — a shift from telephony-style presence to message-like media that any platform owner with a large installed base can exploit.
- For Microsoft, every such feature deepens Skype's role as the connective tissue across Windows, mobile and partner hardware, consolidating what was a standalone service into ecosystem plumbing.
The trend: Consumer video communication is shifting from scheduled live calls toward asynchronous recorded messaging, driven by platform owners folding the capability into their own client ecosystems.