Skype vs. Google

In the course of interviewing David Gurle, VP and GM of Skype for Business (right) about the Skype-for-Business service announcement (post to come), I asked him about the two big Skype-affecting developments of late. He obviously had no comment on the rumors about Cisco buying Skype, and while he also wouldn't comment directly on Google's big announcement of integrating Google Voice with Gmail, he did address the latter issue to the extent he could, by noting the advantages that he claims Skype has in the market.

The main point he emphasized was the ability to integrate Skype with multiple existing interfaces that the company's customers currently have deployed--browsers, for example--if you have Skype, you've seen the icon for calling a phone number directly out of a web page:

He also noted that Skype integrates with Microsoft Outlook, which in the business world is a huge advantage over Google Voice. Lots of people have Gmail accounts, but for business use Outlook/Exchange is far more prevalent.