Skype Ltd released a software development kit yesterday that will allow global consumer electronics makers to embed the popular Internet telephony application into their devices at minimal cost.
“We received overwhelming demand from consumer electronics companies around the world to offer Skype experience in their devices,” Skype chief executive officer Josh Silverman told a press briefing in Taipei.
The “SkypeKit” will initially be available in beta version on an invitation-only basis, and will initially be offered on the Linux operating system.
For desktop software developers, SkypeKit will be available for Windows and Mac over the next few weeks.
The development kit costs less than US$20, the Luxembourg-based company said.
Silverman refused to comment on which potential Taiwanese electronics makers he was seeking to partner with during his first trip to Taiwan, except to say that he was conducting business reviews with Asian partners for the first time since taking over leadership of the company in March 2008.
Currently, 46 percent of mobile broadband users in the world come from Asia, and the company foresees tremendous growth from the region, he said.
Last week, Silverman told delegates at this year’s CommunicAsia technology conference and trade exhibition in Singapore that the company hoped to leverage its Asian partnerships to create more innovative voice-over-IP software applications.
Eight of the world’s PC manufacturers are shipping computers preloaded with Skype. The company intends to have its Internet voice call software preloaded into 100 million PCs next year.
Silverman declined to comment on how many PCs would come pre-installed with Skype by the end of the year, except to say achieving the 100 million target would be based on “accelerating growth this year.”
So far, 12 million people worldwide have downloaded Skype for their iPhones.
Skype recently announced partnerships with Panasonic Corp, LG Electronics Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, where Skype is preloaded on flat-panel TVs so users can get video in the living room to chat with their friends.
Rival Google Inc, operator of the world’s largest Internet search engine, has just opened up a similar service called “Google Voice” for anybody in the US to try.
Google agreed last month to buy Global IP Solutions Holding AB, a maker of voice and videoconferencing software, for about US$68 million to help expand Internet video and audio capabilities.
Silverman brushed aside the competition.
“We [have] faced competition since the day Skype was launched ... But we have grown bigger than we were in the past,” he said.
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