Skype started the year by announcing that it entered a definitive agreement to acquire Qik, company that employs 60 people and specializes in providing mobile video software and services for capturing, instantly sharing, and preserving great moments on video. You may already be familiar with Qik since it comes preloaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets through partnerships with handset manufacturers and mobile networks.
Tony Bates, Skype CEO, announced at the start of the year (on the 6th of January to be more precise) that the acquisition of Qik would help Skype to accelerate its leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to its product portfolio. Tony Bates went on to say that by acquiring Qik, Skype could use Qik’s engineering expertise to optimize video transmission over wireless networks.
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“The Qik team has delivered exceptional video experiences for its mobile partners and millions of end users across a range of devices,” said Tony Bates back on the 6th of January. "Skype’s software enables an estimated 25 percent of the world’s international long distance voice calling minutes*, and approximately 40 percent of those Skype-to-Skype calls are happening over video. Qik’s deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype.”
This Friday, on the 14th of January, Skype announced that the acquisition of Quick went ahead as planed. Skype announced the Qik acquisition is complete in a press release; Neil Stevens, Vice President and General Manager for Consumer, confirmed it in a blog post.
"Qik has worked very hard to solve complex problems that allow millions of people everyday to take advantage of sharing their lives with those people who are most important to them,” said Vijay Tella, Chief Executive Officer of Qik. “Joining Skype allows Qik’s team to unite with Skype’s talented team to develop new and innovative products for our customers and partners.”
Skype started the year by 