Skype Buys GroupMe: More Shifts in the Messaging Business

Skype Buys GroupMe: More Shifts in the Messaging Business
Skype announced that it was acquiring 1 year old group messaging company GroupMe for a reported $85 million dollars.  This deal was in the works while Skype was being acquired by Microsoft. Internet telephony player Skype, recently acquired by Microsoft, is doing some shopping of its own, entering into an agreement to acquire mobile group [...]

Skype announced that it was acquiring 1 year old group messaging company GroupMe for a reported $85 million dollars.  This deal was in the works while Skype was being acquired by Microsoft.

Internet telephony player Skype, recently acquired by Microsoft, is doing some shopping of its own, entering into an agreement to acquire mobile group messaging provider GroupMe.

GroupMe is a very new startup, having only been founded in 2010 in New York, and allows users to group text, conference call, and share pictures and location data. Skype said the purchase, which is for an undisclosed sum, complements the acquisition of mobile video provider Qik earlier this year.

Here is how the GroupMe App works:

• Create a group
• Add members
• Send a message to the group or members individually

The group is assigned a specific number.  You can then send direct text messages to a number and have the message relayed to the group. Group member’s location can also be seen on a map. Another useful feature is that you can create a conference call just by calling the group’s phone number.

I can see the advantage of using this when groups go on vacations or even work together in the field (i.e. sales teams etc etc).  The marriage between the two companies carries the rational that Skype will be able to offer group text messaging to their customers, while GroupMe will supposedly have access to Skype’s 175 million connected users.

Does anyone use IMs anymore?

There has been a substantial amount of acquisitions in the messaging industry recently. To name a few recent ones:

• Skype buys GroupMe
• Twitter buys Cloudhopper
• Facebook buys Beluga

I wonder if there is a future for Internet Messaging (IM) services like MSN, Yahoo, any more.  IM enjoyed a respectable boom on Phones during the Symbian and the early iOS days but it seems that it has been overtaken by App messaging services like WhatsApp, Textme!, and Kik.

Even Apps that integrate multiple IM’s like IM+, Beejive, eBuddy, and Fring are having their functions replicated by free Apps.  For me I still hang on to IM services to keep in touch with MSN or GTalk contacts that want to ‘ping’ me when I am away from the computer.  While we are on the topic, the iPhone is becoming my preferred way of messaging either by IM or App Messaging (i.e. WhatsApp) as I spend considerably less time away from the traditional laptop/PC.

Perhaps some of our readers can share with us and tell us your modes of messaging?

This article, Skype Buys GroupMe: More Shifts in the Messaging Business, was originally published at simonblog.com.