Microsoft’s Skype Division is temporarily removing integration with Windows Phone’s People Hub in the latest update to its app for Microsoft’s mobile platform, citing problems with “device stability.”
The integration into the People Hub was one of the selling points for the Windows Phone app, putting Skype information alongside email, phone number and other contact info in the centralized Windows Phone contact hub. I installed the update and the Skype info did, indeed, disappear from contacts where it previously was included.
Skype says it has “temporarily disabled the People Hub integration as it was causing issues with device stability. We are working with the Windows Phone team to resolve the issue and to enable the integration again in a future release.”
The overall update, released earlier today, improves the overall reliability and performance of the app, “especially around background notifications and calling,” according to a Skype blog post today. Those background notifications let Skype users receive incoming Skype calls on their phones when the app isn’t active on the screen.
Other changes include new Windows Live Messenger integration and an updated chat keyboard, with what Skype describes as improved autocorrect and autocomplete features. Microsoft is in the process of retiring Windows Live Messenger and shifting its users to Skype.
