Tango is a video calling service that is tackling a market where the biggest name is Skype. But the Silicon Valley startup has lots of good things to say about its rival’s new parent company.

That would be Microsoft, which recently closed its $8.5 billion deal for Skype. The software giant, of course, moves on many fronts at the same time, and it is Microsoft’s latest phone software–and the handset makers adopting it–that are the focus of Tango’s excitement.

Tango was created to deliver free mobile video communications, much like Apple’s product FaceTime–except that Tango’s service doesn’t just connect users of iPhones and iPads. It also connects those products with Android phones and Windows PCs. Sales have been brisk; the company, which started offering its service in September 2010, now claims 26 million users.

Now Tango is adding support for Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone software, code-named Mango, and its app will be offered for download in the Windows Phone marketplace. Skype, though it has migrated from PCs to Apple and Android Mobile devices, does not yet work with the phone software from its new owner.

More surprising, at least to Tango, was the fact that Microsoft was so supportive of the startup. Eric Setton, Tango’s cofounder and chief technology officer, says it didn’t initially approach the software company for any technical assistance in view of the Skype deal. “We thought it was pointless,” he says.

Instead, Tango collaborated with handset makers like HTC and Samsung that are adopting Windows Phone software. “They collectively went to Microsoft,” Setton says, starting a phase of technical and marketing cooperation with that company, which was “really, really helpful.”

Read Full Article in Wall Street Journal.com

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

Something interesting: just read in TechCrunch that Facebook and Skype are collaborating on an In-Browser Video Chat.

Michael Arrington stated in his article, Facebook Will Launch In-Browser Video Chat Next Week In Partnership With Skype, “The product has been built on Skype and will include a desktop component. It’s not clear to me whether that means it will just work if a user has Skype already installed on the computer, or if additional software will need to be downloaded even if the user already uses Skype. But it’s clear that there’s very deep integration between the products, and from the user’s perspective, the product will be an in browser experience.”

Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals utilizes both products and I think this integrated platform should help both companies: Facebook with a fuller integration of all its applications to 750 million users worldwide and Skype – with 170 million – could possibly have access to another 580 million users: sounds like a good deal for both.

Good Luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
Calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

Upstart: Gamechangers

Published: February 16, 2011 in Knowledge@Wharton converse face-to-face via a webcam. But the company, which is widely expected to launch an initial public offering in 2011, wants to move beyond helping travelers to stay in touch on the road or allowing a grandmother to “be there” for a grandchild’s birthday despite living thousands of miles away.

Skype also wants to become a place where deals are made by CEOs and rank-and-file employees alike. Once seen as a renegade company that would give entrenched telecommunications providers a run for their money, Skype is now hoping to prevail in the business arena. Founded in 2003 by the developers of peer-to-peer file sharing software Kazaa, Skype was purchased by eBay in 2005. Three years later, the online auction giant sold a majority stake in Skype to an investor group.

The move into the corporate communications sphere will take Skype into closer competition with companies such as Cisco Systems and other established business technology players. Indeed, since regaining its status as an independent company, Skype has continued to add new features and embed its service into devices such as televisions and smartphones. Last October, Tony Bates, who was most recently general manager of Cisco’s enterprise, commercial and small business unit, was tapped to become Skype’s CEO.

Read More:

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2717

Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals

Just days after introducing video calling between Apple’s iPhone and other handsets, Fring today says that Skype is blocking its service, which allows Fring users to voice, IM and video chat with friends on Skype and other platforms. Fring called the action an “anti-competitive ambush,” in light of Fring’s recent addition of video support — a service that Skype currently offers on desktops, but not on mobiles. Not long after Fring launched the video chat feature, the company had to shut it down due to capacity issues.

On the surface, this sounds like a clear-cut case of Skype being concerned with a competing service and therefore attempting to shut Fring down to keep it from leveraging Skype’s customers. But the situation appears more complex than that — a Skype spokesperson responded to our request for comment with this statement, and pointed us to a Skype blog post published today:

Skype has been in discussions with Fring regarding our belief that Fring is breaching our API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement. Skype is disappointed that an amicable resolution was not possible, but Fring’s decision to withdraw Skype functionality immediately was of its own choice.  Skype encourages developers to build products that work with Skype in accordance with our various API licenses. However, Skype will rigorously protect its brand and reputation and those companies that do not comply with our terms will be subject to enforcement.

So although Skype has been supported on Fring since 2007 — Fring users can chat with Skype customers, as well as those on GoogleTalk and Twitter — Skype’s comment indicates there has been a licensing dispute for some time. And perhaps more importantly, Skype says it hasn’t blocked Fring at all — Fring has ceased supporting Skype integration on its own.

I asked Fring about Skype’s official comment and received this response via email, which turns the entire situation into a he-said, she-said circle:

As for motivation you’ll have to ask Skype. What’s clear is that Skype took advantage of the fact that we had to temporary [sic] reduce Skype connectivity to support the huge number of mobile video calls. Skype then demanded that we NOT restore connectivity to Skype. The minute they return to open communications we will be happy to reconnect.

Although the truth probably lies in between the two company statements, Skype does have a history of claiming openness while some of its actions dictate otherwise. Perhaps the best example is that of Skype Mobile for Android handsets. Instead of fully supporting Google’s open operating system for handsets, Skype removed a Skype Lite client in the U.S. from the Android Market when it partnered with Verizon Wireless earlier this year. As a result, the only U.S. Android devices with access to a Skype client are on a single carrier.

Sadly, such integration between clients and platforms is challenging enough without licensing issues and carrier-specific deals. As my friend Andy Abramson noted immediately after Fring faced overwhelming demand for iPhone video calling, “Fring has a capacity issue. This is why Skype was smart to take their “wait and see” position on interoperability with FaceTime.” Without the right infrastructure to support services, what sounds like a great new platform or interoperability method can quickly turn into a poor end-user experience.

Hopefully, folks at Skype and Fring will talk with each other to try and work out any licensing or API issues — perhaps a regular land-line would provide the proper neutral ground.

http://gigaom.com/2010/07/12/who-blocked-who-in-skype-and-fring-fight/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+(GigaOM)