Microsoft’s Skype VP announced at CES that Skype will soon be launching for Windows Phone, but rather than a native integration, it may be an app similar to its rivals.

Rik Osteloh said at CES 2012 that Skype will be launching a Windows Phone product, after months of Microsoft silence on the matter.

Microsoft purchased Skype from eBay for £5.2bn, its largest ever acquisition, and it was expected to be a centrepiece of the company’s attention, running across all its product lines including the Xbox. In April Microsoft announced that it would be available on all Windows Phone devices by late 2011. There has been no comment from Microsoft since.

Worryingly, Skype has long been available on rival Android and Apple devices.

These delays were originally thought to be due to Microsoft’s performing a native, indepth Skype integration into all its products with extras, but now it is expected to launch an app similar to the Android and iOs systems as a stopgap measure until the next iteration of Windows Phone launches in quarter four 2012. Codenamed Apollo it will not be Windows Phone 8 – which is expected to be the smartphone variant of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 computer operating system.

AS CBR has noted before, the Windows Phone platforms face an uphill battle against Google Android and Apple’s iPhone, especially in the app marketplace.

The Windows Phone Marketplace and upcoming Windows 8 Store may not offer anywhere near as many apps as its rivals (around 50,000 vs circa 400-500,000), but it was expected that Skype – which Microsoft owns – would be a Day One software option for Windows Phone users.

The much hyped Nokia-Microsoft partnership, which produced December’s well received Lumia 800 (see our review here) bizarrely excluded any Skype software on the phone.

It is unclear how well Skype will work with the Nokia Lumia 800, as it has no forward facing camera. It’s big brother, the recently unveiled, currently US exclusive 4G Nokia Lumia 900 does have this feature.

Unfortunately the delay in rolling out the UK 4G network means this device may never reach our shores.

Both Windows Phone 8 and Skype for Windows Phone (all versions) is expected to be unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 27 February.