Skype targets mobile improvements
With the likes of WhatsApp and BBM currently dominating the smartphone messaging service, longstanding communications giant Skype has stated that it is ‘critical’ the company gets mobile right.
As traditional Skype users ditch their desktop foundations in favour of smartphone and tablet devices, the communications platform is being forced to change with the times, facing off against renewed competition in the app-based messaging space.
“For Skype to succeed in the future, it’s critical that we get mobile right,” Lara Kingwell, Skype’s Product Marketing Manager for Mobile said speaking with TrustedReviews.
Looking at Skype’s changing tides she stated: “When Skype was originally developed, it was created with the idea that people would be on desktop computers, plugged into the internet all the time and plugged into a power socket.
“Now, as the world has changed dramatically in the 10 years since launch, more and more people are having their first computing experience via a mobile phone.
“We have spent the last year or so listening to user feedback on what they think of our mobile experience, and what they want us to change to make it better.”
Despite already offering Skype applications for all major mobile operating systems, including Windows Phone and BB10, Kingwell has suggested that due to the sector’s continued growth the company will focus more effort and resources in mobile moving forward.
“Skype has 300 million connected users who use 2 billion calling minutes per day,” she told us.
“When you think of the focus of people shifting onto mobile platforms, this is why we have got to get mobile right because it is a big amount of usage that we’re seeing and it’s a changing shift we’re seeing away from desktop.”
One area of Skype’s mobile service that Kingwell has highlighted as being in need of dramatic improvement, is the service’s Instant Messaging options.
“For us to compete we have to get every aspect right in Skype. The messaging element of that is very important and it is an area where we are seeing a lot of users chop and change between a number of competing apps and it is something we need to get right in order to compete.”
She added: “The IM market as a whole is very interesting. You have these players who are focussed on one element of what Skype does – and they are doing it very well – whereas at Skype, our value is that we are one app that does everything from messaging all the way through to video calling.”
Can’t decide what handset to use Skype on? Check out our best smartphones 2014 feature for a helpful guide.
