Las Vegas, — Skype, a powerhouse in the arena of voice and video chat over the Net has embarked on a shopping spree, said Thursday that it had agreed to acquire “Qik,” a California-based outfit offering mobile software and services that let you capture and share video across phones as well as desktops and the web, the company announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Tony Bates, Skype’s recently appointed CEO, confirmed the announcement on the company blog: “I’m happy to announce that we have endorsed a definitive agreement to acquire Qik,” he wrote.
Bates decline to disclose how much Skype is paying for Qik, although a published report on Business Insider, citing unnamed sources, who disclosed the news claims that the deal cost Skype approximately $100 million.
Bates also refused to say how Skype plans to integrate Qik into its service, including whether it will retain the Qik brand or change other features.
Expected to finalize later this month, the acquisition is meant to boost Skype’s furtherance into mobile video arena. Today it has got apps for voice chat, but Qik brings video to the party and with Qik’s capture-and-share video apps that are already available on more than 200 mobile phones running Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile, and they give you the option of sharing videos live — as they are being recorded.
“Both Skype and Qik have a common vision of enriching communications and sharing with video, across any device,” reads a statement from Skype and Qik. “Together, Skype and Qik will focus on providing a richer, more integrated experience that will allow people globally to share experiences in real-time video across different platforms, as well as store those moments so they can be viewed anytime later,” Skype said in a statement.
Skype already lets users make video calls from mobile to mobile, but Qik has some more advanced features like the ability to store video streams in the cloud for later viewing. The two companies also mentioned that Skype will “leverage” the engineering talents behind Qik’s Smart Streaming tech, a means of optimizing video communication over wireless networks. Qik video can be streamed in real-time or stored for later viewing.
Interestingly, last month, Skype introduced two-way video calling on its iPhone app, and just today, Skype pulled off the beta tag off its group video calling service, which is available on the desktop as well as via the iPhone app.
“With Group Video Calling, we can offer business people an easy way to stay connected and collaborate face-to-face with multiple colleagues, partners or customers around the world,” said David Gurlé, General Manager and Vice President of Skype’s Enterprise business unit. “The Business version of Skype is great for live meetings and it offers a compelling low-cost option compared to competing solutions that are often complicated, costly or difficult to deploy.”
With Group Video Calling, users can connect with up to nine other callers for prices starting at $6.99 per month for a three to twelve month subscription (for those using Skype Manager).
Furthermore, Skype said that group video calling is available as part of the new premium package from Skype which offers group video calling together with access to live chat customer support as a day pass for $4.99 (€3.49/£2.99) or as a monthly subscription for $8.99 (€5.99/£4.99) per month. Skype users who sign up for group video calling in the first month it’s available will receive a 33 percent discount on 3 and 12-month subscriptions. New users also receive a 7-day free trial.
Video chat is increasingly gaining momentum as phone makers add front-facing cameras for video chat and 4G networks add at least theoretical faster data-transfer speeds. At the CES show this week, many demonstrations feature video chat–including Google’s upcoming Honeycomb version of Android with the feature apparently built in.
Qik, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., has 60 employees. Moreover, Skype and Qik have two important board members in common: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who could have helped facilitate the deal.