<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; ">MICROSOFT BUYING SKYPE</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; ">[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; ">Microsoft has bought Skype for $8.5 billion, in an all cash deal. Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft is said to be a big champion of the deal, the largest in the history of the company. Skype has been up for sale for some time, thanks to some very antsy investors -- both eBay and Silver Lake Partners have been getting nervous about the delayed initial public offering and have been pushing for a sale of Skype. Facebook and Google were said to be earlier dance partners for Skype, and Microsoft was a late entrant and is now walking away with the prize.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; ">Skype gives Microsoft a boost in the enterprise collaboration market, thanks to Skype’s voice, video and sharing capabilities, especially when competing with Cisco and Google.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; ">It gives Microsoft a working relationship with carriers, many of them looking to partner with Skype as they start to transition to LTE-based networks.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; ">It would give them a must-have application/service that can help with the adoption of the future versions of Windows Mobile operating system.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; ">However, the biggest reason for Microsoft to buy Skype is Windows Phone 7 (Mobile OS) and Nokia. The software giant needs a competitive offering to Google Voice and Apple’s emerging communication platform, Facetime.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; "><a href="http://benton.org/outgoingframe/63957?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BentonsHeadlines">GigaOm</a> </span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><a href="http://benton.org/outgoingframe/63957?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BentonsHeadlines"></a><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px;">See also: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576314854222820260.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576314854222820260.html</a> </span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px;"><br></span></font><br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div>------------------------------------------------------------</div><div>Richard Lowenberg<br>P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504<br>505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell</div><div>------------------------------------------------------------</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></body></html>