Microsoft reported its first-ever quarterly loss this week, thanks to the huge writedown of its 2007 aQuantive deal. But one acquisition, Skype, is turning out to be the little engine that… Read More
Conceding that its giant acquisition of aQuantive Inc. hasn’t worked out as planned, Microsoft says it will write down the value of goodwill in its Online Services Division by a… Read More
Skype, a.k.a. Microsoft’s Skype Division, just announced a new form of advertising on its service, called “Conversation Ads.” The ads will appear in the on-screen interface for people making free… Read More
There was lots of speculation a while back about the possibility of Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft Windows president, being positioned to succeed Steve Ballmer as Microsoft CEO someday. As I… Read More
It’s a no-brainer that Microsoft’s next Xbox console, whenever it’s released and whatever it’s called, will offer some form of Skype functionality for making video calls in the living room.… Read More
T-Mobile USA says that its Bobsled web phone service has surpassed the one million user mark, a milestone that comes just a year after the Bellevue carrier launched the offering.… Read More
Microsoft’s Skype division is launching a video and voice calling app today for Sony’s latest handheld gaming device, the PlayStation Vita. The release isn’t a huge surprise, given that Skype… Read More
Skype took its Windows Phone app out of beta this weekend, releasing a 1.0 version with updates including video calling in portrait mode and new features for adding and managing Skype… Read More
Skype partners with Facebook on video calling, and Skype’s parent company, Microsoft, is a minority owner of Facebook. But all’s fair in love, war and advertising, apparently. A new outdoor advertising… Read More
Skype said this morning that its impartial labs have given its “Skype Certified” seal of approval to all of Microsoft’s HD webcams and USB headsets, guaranteeing that users of the products will have “an… Read More
At long last, Microsoft just released Skype for Windows Phone, albeit a few months later than originally expected and not yet in finished form. The beta of the Skype for… Read More
Microsoft’s quarterly profits topped Wall Street’s expectations, thanks in part to growth in the company’s server and business software divisions, but the company’s Windows unit continued to feel the effects… Read More
eBay reported strong fourth quarter earnings Wednesday, driven largely by the sale of Skype to Microsoft last May for $8.5 billion. eBay reported net income for the fourth quarter of $2… Read More
Microsoft reports its financial results for the December quarter Thursday afternoon. Here are a few of the items we’ll be watching. Overall: The bar isn’t high. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters… Read More
Whoa, can we catch our breath now? We’ve certainly had plenty to cover on the tech beat over the past year, from Amazon.com’s introduction of the Kindle Fire to the… Read More
Travelers across the U.S. will get a little holiday cheer thanks to Skype, which announced today that it is rolling out free Wi-Fi at 50 airports from December 21st to… Read More
Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of online communications company Skype just won approval from European regulators, clearing the way for the largest acquisition in the Redmond company’s history. The European Commission’s… Read More
Skype competitor Messagenet is asking European regulators to prevent Microsoft from integrating Skype with Windows as a condition of approval for its $8.5 billion acquisition of the online communications company.… Read More
Skype, in the process of being acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion, this afternoon got more company on the road to Redmond — announcing a deal to acquire GroupMe, the New York-based… Read More
Skype today released its free Skype WiFi app for iPhone and iPad. It’s the latest in a flurry of new product releases from the company prior to the completion of its… Read More
F5 Networks has appointed Skype Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Chadwick to its board of directors and announced the purchase of intellectual property assets of Crescendo Networks. The Seattle company, whose… Read More
Skype seems to be savoring its final moments of independence with a flurry of new features. With Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of the company still pending, Skype has been updating… Read More
OK, so Microsoft hasn’t actually completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype yet, but the long-awaited release of a native Skype app for the iPad today is destined to become… Read More
One of the more interesting angles on Facebook’s rollout of a new Skype video chat feature today is Microsoft’s role as a big player in the background — as the… Read More
Facebook is rolling out a new video chat feature for its users in partnership with Skype, developed in Facebook’s Seattle engineering office, that aims to give its users a one-click… Read More
Microsoft would no doubt have the money to buy Hulu, the popular online television and movie service, but would it have the inclination? My gut reaction is no, but the… Read More
Skype has reportedly dismissed a series of top executives — including four vice presidents, and the heads of human resources and marketing — in advance of the company’s acquisition by… Read More
Skype this afternoon announced a partnership with Comcast to bring video calls to more television sets — signaling that it isn’t standing still while it waits for its acquisition by… Read More
At a Belltown coffee shop yesterday, I spotted a guy at a nearby table reading GeekWire. I got a bit giddy seeing a stranger “in the wild” interacting with GeekWire.… Read More
Microsoft doesn’t even own Skype yet, but it is already taking blame for an outage that impacted some users of the Internet phone service this morning. Snarky comments filled up… Read More