Microsoft bought Skype back in October for $12.5 billion but since then there hasn"t been much in the way of new software and hardware products that represent a true collaboration between Skype and Microsoft products. In a video interview conducted by Microsoft at CES 2012, Skype"s vice president of products Rick Osterloh said that collaboration is still in the works.
Perhaps the biggest question for Skype fans concerns when a Skype client will be released for Windows Phone devices. In the interview, Osterloh said that Skype is working on a Windows Phone version but declined to give out a date, saying only it would be "coming out soon." He also stated that Skype is working to bring its software to other Microsoft properties, including the Xbox 360 and, of course, Windows 8.
Microsoft announced during the CES 2012 keynote address that Skype now has over 200 million monthly users. Those users have been talking on the phone via Skype for a total of 300 billion minutes in 2011, increasing to over 1 billion per day. Skype also recently announced that Skype-to-Skype calls amounted to almost 25 percent of the total number of international telephone minutes made in 2011.