Skype: New owners, new customers, new channels

Skype’s stock changes hands. Sometime soon employees may get new badges. Payroll processing and PR firms may change. But, for the most part, Skype’s employees will stay the course, building more Skype in more places.

Skype division President Tony Bates must make good on his promise of synergy to Ballmer.

The first step is to build up the team that treats the rest of Microsoft as major account customers. Each division and many Microsoft product lines will get their own account manager.

They will be responsible for helping the Entertainment division, for example, bring Skype to Xbox Kinect. This is a “Skype inside” approach, building on Skype’s platform products.

Bundling Skype with Microsoft products is the low-hanging fruit. Preinstalled in Windows. An IE toolbar. A home presence on Windows Phone. One more element in Microsoft Office. Low integration cost, low product risk, massive distribution. 

These two strategies will change the Skype Division and the Skype products more than the change in owners. Skype will be learning from users and customers indirectly, through the lens of Microsoft’s divisions. So Skype must hold on to end-customer relationships to keep understanding new users. Microsoft will pull Skype in even more directions, with multiple conflicting world views. Skype will learn to hold its own world view and mission.

The coolest things will be the small leaks. Microsoft has great depth of process, experience with scale, reach in the workplace, research on the frontiers of computing. Those will spark deeper insights and innovation at Skype and those will be delightful to watch.

For those still working at Skype, congratulations on the new chapter in the Skype story.

A few useful links:

• Tony Bates Weighs in on Microsoft’s Acquisition of Skype blog post announcement and video announcement.

• Jim Courtney and Dan York weigh in too, both are upbeat about the announcement.

• The most pithy cynicism was on Slashdot: “Embrace.. Extend.. Extinguish..”

A touch of irony as a little bit of Microsoft integration breaks in my browser…