Microsoft, the software giant, offers communications using Windows Live Messenger; the new deal is expected to bring more customers to Microsoft’s Office and Windows software, along with Windows Phone hardware. Skype allows users to hold text, voice and video chats, as well as free chats of any type between two Skype users.

However, concerns arose that through this deal, Microsoft would interrupt Skype support on Android and iPhone platforms. Google has also been bidding for Skype, but stopped at $4 billion.

Qik is a provider of mobile video software as well as services that allow users to capture, preserve and share moments on video by means of a cell phone or a mobile device. Qik is present on tablets and phones running Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Symbian. However, it does not have an application dedicated to Windows Phone 7, but that may change in the near future.

Qik has its headquarters in Redwood City, California, and has only sixty employees.

Spotify is also expected to come and catch up to the iPhone and Android versions that are already available. The product will keep the usual streaming features, while the background task support is supposed to let it play music in the background and also use Windows Phone 7’s stock audio controls to both pause and skip tracks. The application will also need to wait for Mango.

Also onboard in a few weeks will be Kik Messenger, which is very well known after being exiled from RIM’s BlackBerry due to competition with the latter’s Messenger. The application does not need Mango and is expected to have chat notifications as well as other features while being open and have the background update later.

Layar will come with camera direct access for the augmented reality application. Such applications already existed, an example being LG’s own tools.

Angry Birds from Rovio was finally confirmed for Windows Phone 7. No Mango features are needed by the application but it will support multitasking. The application is expected to reach Windows Phone Marketplace on the 25th of May.

It is a tumultuous story that Microsoft has had with the game and the company had problems with Rovio after creating an icon for the game in a mockup, although the developer never had promised to port the game over. After the iPhone, Android and webOS, Windows Phone 7 is one of the later important platforms to get this title.

WP7 has been moving relatively quickly compared to other mobile application stores and has now about 15,000 applications. This is more than Hewlett Packard’s webOS App Catalog or BlackBerry App World. The low phone sales of the platform as well as the relative novelty have nevertheless kept it back, while iOS has over 350,000 applications and Android Market has 120,000 or even more.

The initial 650×170-pixel banner (the ad space) automatically expands when the user rolls over it. The ad space will be sold in the USA through Meebo, in the UK through Ad2One and in Germany through Ströer Interactive. Ads can include video or audio and users will be able to close the ads through a dedicated button. So far, Mac users can’t view the ads.

Apple’s iChat has a similar offer for a maximum of four people, with host included, at no charge, but Skype’s offer would support up to ten parties, although the company recommends only five as an optimum for best quality. Only the originator of the call must pay, while all parties have to use Skype’s latest version, which is either v5 beta for Mac or v5.1 for Windows, and have to meet all the system requirements of these versions. The v5 beta for Mac is not available to users of PowerPC Mac. Skype recommends a configuration with at least 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and a 4Mbps downstream/512kbps upstream connection in order to obtain a best-quality service on either platform.

A possible final release of Skype’s recommended v5 appeared at a certain moment but disappeared later in the same day. Both the new features and the calling plans are expected to be accompanied soon by a final version. Free features on Skype, such as IM or video and audio calling one-on-one, connecting Skype users on ether platform, will continue to be free of charge and are not affected by the company’s new plans.

Conferencing with up to 24 other partners is still supported. When users are not at home to be able to receive Skype calls, it is possible for the caller to leave a message. When a message is waiting, a blinking light on the Blu-ray player indicates this. Blu-ray players such as the DMP-BDT110, DMP-BDT210 or DMP-BDT310 require connected, cameras, compatible with Skype.

The Blu-ray players support Skype video calls up to 720-pixel resolution at 22 frames per second. This is more than users of PCs get, at 640×480 VGA.

All these features will be present in Skype 5.0, currently in beta version, expected to be launched in a complete form during the next few weeks.

Distinct advantages for both parties are expected from the partnership of Facebook and Skype. Skype aims to bolster its reach to 500 million users of Facebook who would be added to the existent 506 million own users, although redundancies are possible. On the other hand, as Skype has more users, it would help Facebook to expand its user database.

Recently, SK Telecom has also promised to build 15,000 Wi-Fi areas in the country; this means that the initial plans have been expanded by about 50 percent. SK also claims that sometime in 2011, a next-generation LTE network will be unveiled too. The carrier’s calls will be ultimately pushed on to VoIP thanks to the 4G access; this could also unify cell standards in South Korea, making it possible for Apple’s iPhone and other similar devices to run on all Korean networks, with no need of any additional separate hardware.

Avi Shechter, who has been a co-founder of the company, said he would be very happy to see Skype changing its policy and get Fring reconnected, but did not mention an eventual progress in getting back the service.

A spokesman from Skype said that it was not certain if Fring had followed the licensing terms of use when implementing Skype. He also blamed Fring for blocking access. However, the spokesman did not make clear why Skype had no problems with the implementation of Fring for the other four previous years when it had also been active.

Fring has defined itself as being a service which tries to unify communications. In addition to what Skype has got, Fring has had Twitter and multiple IM networks as part of the most recent feature set. As for two-way video chat, it has been a mainstream feature only lately with addition of iPhone and Android support.

Starting February 25, 2010, Korean models will benefit from Skype. North America, as well as the rest of the world, will get Skype on Samsung’s TVs starting mid-2010 or even earlier.