Skype VP confirms upcoming deep integration with Windows Phone

Apple doesn't let Skype use the iOS video processing system, Android doesn't give it access to the address book, but with Windows Phone the communication software won't have such problems, and it will be deeply integrated throughout Microsoft's mobile OS, says Skype's VP Neil Stevens.

The Microsoft/Skype $8.5 billion deal is pending regulatory approval, expected to arrive by year-end. It sparked rumors that Redmond might be limiting the best features of the new releases to the WP platform, which Microsoft denied.

It looks, however, that the advantage of Skype being now part of the Microsoft brand will come from a different angle. Neil Stevens doesn't even imagine an app will be needed to make a Skype call, or fire up a chat session with anyone in WP, that's how deep of an integration he envisions - it "can show people what a really great Skype experience is like when there are no hardware or vendor limitations”, he said.

Skype will be creeping onto other parts of Microsoft's ecosystem, too, like Kinect, the Lync enterprise communication program, and eventually Windows 8 - certainly a bright future shaping up, but we'll spare judgement until we see it integrated.

via Forbes