Skype Releases IM Developer Tools

[Jeff]

By Ben Charny, CNET News.com
August 24, 2005

VoIP giant Skype is now letting Web sites and others Internet applications tap into the untold millions of people using Luxemburg-based company's instant-message feature.

The company on Wednesday unleashed its SkypeWeb and SkypeNet developer tools. By doing so, Skype says it's opening up its platform to people who wants to integrate Skype Instant Messaging--a lesser-known feature of Skype--into their applications.

Skype believes it can be a significant threat to instant-messaging giants Yahoo, MSN and America Online. With 51 million registered usernames, Skype IM is--according to figures provided by Skype--potentially twice the size of Yahoo's instant-messaging community, and six times that of America Online.

"Skype to wants to embrace the rest of Internet," Skype co-founder Janus Friis said during a recent interview.

Microsoft, America Online and Yahoo representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Skype's Friis said he expects a large number of hardware and software makers to weave Skype's IM into their creations during the coming months. But he wouldn't identify any companies intending to do so.

He did offer hypothetical examples. Online gamers involved in massive multiple player mayhem could use Skype IM to taunt rivals and discuss strategy with teammates. Skype's IM features could be incorporated, Friss suggests, into software-based media players for personal computers, Web sites for dating, blogging or "eBay kinds of auctions," Friis said.

But there's one major drawback to Skype's new initiative. People can't incorporate Skype's Net phone features into their applications. Since Skype's launch Aug. 29, 2003, nearly two years ago, there have been 12 billion minutes worth of phone Skype calls, in competition with cellular or landline phone networks.

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