Microsoft ditching Windows Live Messenger for Skype

Instant messaging service Windows Live Messenger will be replaced with Skype next year, Microsoft announced Tuesday.

“We will retire Messenger in all countries worldwide in the first quarter of 2013 (with the exception of mainland China where Messenger will continue to be available),” Tony Bates, president of the Skype division at Microsoft, said Tuesday.

“By updating to Skype, Messenger users can instant message and video call their Messenger friends,” he said.

Windows Live Messenger was first introduced as MSN Messenger in 1999 as a text-only service, but later expanded to include pictures and video.

Microsoft purchased Skype in an $8.5-billion deal on May 10, 2011. Skype started as a voice and internet calling service and had about 663 million registered users worldwide as of 2010.

Bates said the new Skype service will offer broader device support for all platforms, including iPad and Android tablets, as well as instant messaging and video calling.

Users will also be able to call landlines and mobile phones, share screens, use video calling on mobile phones, video-call their Facebook friends and use group video calling.

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