Skype has just acquired Norwegian Company Sonorit AB and its US subsidiary Camino Networks for $27M in a moved designed, or so it seems, to make them less dependent on GIPS, and more competitive with MSN, and Yahoo. It’s a speedy exit for Sonorit, which was founded by ex-GIPS employees in June of 2005, and shipped their first product in Q4 of the same year. Unless GIPS suit against Sonorit has been resolved, though, Skype and GIPS destinies will be intertwined for some time.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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This is a Skype / eBay move in the right direction to complete with Microsoft, Google, AOL and Yahoo, and let's not forget that Google is a very strong technology company and top eBay competitor. Skype core biz is voice and it cannot afford to depend on the 3rd party license, but must own the core voice technology, as Microsoft does.
However Sonorit/Camino is too small (less then 10 people), was formed as a company just several months ago, has no shipping product, has no single customer, so this acquisition does not solve Skype technology hole yet.
This acquisition is not to avoid paying royalties to GIPS, this is strategic Skype technology move to compete with Microsoft, Google, AOL and Yahoo, there are several clear less costy ways for Skype to stop paying royalties to GIPS, and GIPS legal suite has no strong base.
Following Skype acquisition by eBay in September, this acquisition validates again high market prices for software voice technology companies, like Skype, GIPS, Camino and SPIRIT.
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