The release of InstaColl’s new document collaboration facility highlights the success of Skype.
eBay-owned Skype boasts one of the highest active memberships of any online community. With around five million users online at any given time, Skype is finding favor with users in companies both large and small; and as a result is now attracting a growing community of independent software developers, equipment manufacturers, and service providers.
When it launched, Skype offered very little by way of bells and whistles, but now the picture is very different. Available on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Pocket PCs, today’s users of this extremely effective application can avail themselves of Skype’s many value-added services, such as cheaper calls to regular landlines and mobiles and free conference calls.
InstaColl’s useful document collaboration tool is just one of the many applications that are appearing as a result of Skype opening up its technology through its published application programming interface (API). Launched just over a year ago, the Skype Developers Program encourages, promotes, and supports the development of tools and applications based on the Skype API; and according to Skype officials, the API has to date attracted more than 3,500 developers – no mean feat in 12 months.
Available on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms, the Skype API is made freely available to anyone who wants it. Programmers can use it to develop both commercial and non-commercial applications, and in the past year the program has lead to the creation of more than 300 software applications and over 100 Skype Certified hardware products.
High-profile companies, such as Salesforce.com, are extending Skype way beyond its basic capabilities, and other big names are expected to follow suit over the coming months. The Salesforce integration, which is also available free of charge, voice-enables the 250 applications found on the AppExchange.
In the UK, Skype calling credit can be bought from Sainsbury’s supermarkets, and thus it seems safe to say that Skype has ‘arrived’ and is now mainstream. Furthermore, the company will continue to be a disruptive force within the IT and telecommunications industries for quite some time.
Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)
