Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.15 Billion Deal confirmed

In a solid move to enter the VOIP market and give big G some serious competition, Microsoft has agreed to buy Skype for $8.15 billion dollars. Lets quickly understand how this move affects skype users like you.

The boards of both companies have agreed to the deal, as Ballmer will now head Skype directly. Once the merger is complete, Microsoft plans to add Skype support to its Xbox and Kinect gaming devices and Windows Phone mobile operating system. Expect some heavy marketing coming your way, once Microsoft gears up for its most promising move in retail VOIP business.

How does this affect skype users? Well, nothing will change for you. Skype will continue to offer free PC to PC service and most of their plans will remain the same. However, it would be interesting to see Microsoft will ever offer a free calling service like Google Voice.

For Now, $8.15 billion deal was a good exit for Ebay who have been suffering a lot after the skype deal and their bottom lines are hit badly. Microsoft can absorb the cost very well considering their overall strategy.

This really means that two giants Microsoft and Google will now battle it out in the US VoIP space with Microsoft having the international presence with skype. Either way, the customers will always be on the winning side.