JN
Jason Nelson
Meta
Native communications for desktop and mobile
As part of the launch of Windows 10, one of the flagship features was to integrate Skype directly into the native People, Messaging, Phone and a new Video application.
The business need was to act as a FaceTime and Hangouts competitor in the OS, as well as to avoid potential competition concerns by unbundling the core application into individual apps.
This was a huge shift in the paradigm for end users, which had previously been used to have an all-in-one application for contacts, IM and calling.
Mobile
For mobile we took the approach of integration with the address book, allowing users to automatically find friends who also used Skype. We also worked with the Windows communications team to enable cost-conscious customers to switch between Skype instant messaging and carrier SMS within a conversation as they saw fit.