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Microsoft today confirmed it will buy internet phone service Skype for 8.5 billion US dollars (£5 billion) in the software giant's biggest ever takeover deal.

Luxembourg-based Skype, which allows its 663 million users to make voice or video calls over the internet, will become a new business division within Microsoft after its private owners agreed to sell the business. 

The hefty price tag is likely to raise eyebrows as Skype's former owner, online auctioneer eBay, sold 70% of the reportedly loss-making business for 2 billion US dollars (£1.2 billion) just two years ago.

The value of the deal overtakes Microsoft's successful bid for online advertising agency aQuantive in 2007 for 6 billion US dollars (£3.6 billion).

Skype is popular for its free calling services, which can be made to other Skype users, and has around 8.8 million paying customers per month.

The amount of call time on Skype's network totalled 207 billion minutes last year, according to regulatory documents.

The popularity of the free calls has made it difficult for the company to make money since it was founded by entrepreneurs Niklas Sennstrom and Janus Friis.

City analysts earlier questioned the size of the bid price as the company made a 7 million US dollars (£4.2 million) loss last year on revenues of 860 million US dollars (£525 million).

A Skype sale has been speculated upon for weeks, with Google and Facebook also rumoured to be interested.

Skype was bought by eBay for 2.6 billion US dollars (£1.5 billion) in 2005 but it sold a 70% stake to private equity firms Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz for 2 billion US dollars (£1.2 billion).

Other major shareholders include tech-firm Joltid and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said his company made the decision to buy Skype in mid-April after it held partnership discussions with the group.

"We decided it was in our best interest to own the group and made an unsolicited approach to Silver Lake," he said.

The plans are to link it with Microsoft's other core products such as Outlook, Xbox and its Windows phone.

Mr Ballmer said Skype's video capability was a natural fit with Outlook's existing email and messaging functions.

The chief executive confirmed Microsoft would also continue to support Skype's multi-platform approach so it will still be made available on products made by rivals such as Apple and Google.

Skype boss Tony Bates, who will become Microsoft Skype division's president once the deal is completed, said this commitment to support Skype across different platforms was fundamental to the deal being agreed.

http://www.independent.co.uk

 iPhone users have come to expect more applications and product improvements. They also expect their solar charger to continue to perform and not become obsolete. That's what makes the PC5 the preferred long-term solar charger investment."Skype is releasing a new iPhone app that allows video calls over Wi-Fi, AT&T's 3G network" and "iPhone 5 Rumors Pack in Everything But the Kitchen Sink" are an indication of the continued trend toward higher power requirements for the iPhone. iPhone users can depend on the powerful compact PC5 solar charger to meet those needs.

The ability to charge the iPhone so quickly while remaining operational comes from the PC5's compact, high efficiency, solar array. The PC5 also features an efficient circuit design that helps continuously maximize the available solar energy from the sun for iPhone solar charging.

The PC5 does not include any on board batteries that interrupt the continued use of the iPhone. It needs no special adapters. It directly charges the iPhone using the supplied USB charge cord that is included with the iPhone. The PC5 solar charger is highly reliable, simple to use, and hassle free. Just place it in sun, plug it into the iPhone and notice instant usage and charging.

The PC5 is an optimized 5 volt USB solar charger. It can deliver a true 5 watts at 5 volts. This is well within the power requirements for today's and future iPhone charging. Suntactics does not advise the use of 12volt AA battery solar charger panels to charge 5volt USB devices. Doing so requires DC-DC conversion and you will often not get the full power required to charge the iPhone at an optimum level.

Use the PC5 solar charger to charge iPhones while camping, at picnics, at the beach, by the pool, or ball games. Take it hiking and keep those iPhone GPS apps running. Use it to solar charge the iPhone when there is no other power available.

The PC5 is the best solution for iPhone users requiring dependable solar charging. It is also a great solution for iPad and other high power devices that have similar needs.

H. Monaghan is a touch screen phones expert and writes iPhone solar charger reviews for the 12voltsolarpanels.net weblog – a non profit blog about the latest technology stories about solar rechargers for small devices and mobiles.

It is no secret that mobile phones, while indispensable inside modern life, have a trouble with battery longevity. I’ve found that in most cases, my Android mobile phone and new iPhone 4 will use up all my power at the same time they’ve fallen into sleep function while unplugged from the wall for approximately 24 hours.

This can be a bit frustrating, particularly if I need the phone to operate without energy for a set period of time, for example on the road trip when I forgot to pack a car 12v charger and won’t have access to a power source for several days.

Wysips, small startup company in France desires to find a solution to extend Smartphone battery while dodging the possibility of making them any more cumbersome.

Expanding the size of the battery pack would probably sure help, but a touch screen phone should be able to fit without difficulty in a pocket or inner compartment without taking up a lot of space. Because of this, the idea would not be viable.

Wysips wants to compete with top European Smartphone innovators like HTC by entering their unique and revolutionary phones in to the market. Wysips capitalizes on the battery of their third generation model phones, which runs on the solar cell at the top half of the mobile phone’s display to increase battery life.

The coolest part of the whole thing is that the solar cell is nearly completely transparent, making energy while letting the cellular phone’s user stare directly through it.

What’s interesting is that the tech used to make the nearly-transparent solar strips resembles screen technology employed to make the Nintendo 3DS and several of Samsung’s brand-new “Naked Eye 3D” panels.

Essentially, the top side of the screen is overlaid with very small strips of solar panels that draw in the sun’s energy to give extra energy to the cell phone.

While the solar cells can’t keep the phone completely functional, they can greatly extend the battery life of the Smartphone  - something that everyone has been begging for. Although Wysips does not yet have any fully-functional prototypes demoing at trade events, but they have shown some standard, case-free presentations of the technology.

The great thing is the solar panels don’t obstruct touch screen performance at all. The solar cell film is truly a part of the screen, so pushing a finger on the screen generates a perfect response.

Wysips claims the next models will be even better, and the  solar cell panels will be nearly totally transparent when the technology is ready to be displayed in all its glory.

Wysips is in talks with a variety of mobile providers and phone producers, however the company has notgiven any clues as to which company might purchase the rights to the patent. Nevertheless, the technique has truly taken off, and it’s got tech fans and the general public alike very enthusiastic.

The firm anticipates that they will be creating other few prototypes before things really get up along in sales. There aren’t any official estimates on when the cellular phone will be retail-ready, but I’m really very excited to listen to more details.