Mike Arrington has made a post talking about a possible acquisition of Skype by Cisco. According to him there are talks to acquire Skype at a price near $5 Billion before they complete the IPO process.
Cisco has made an offer to acquire Skype before they complete their IPO process, says one of our more reliable sources. We have not been able to confirm this rumor one way or another via other sources, which isn’t surprising. A company in lock down during the IPO process is usually even more tight lipped than normal.But if true this would be one very big acquisition. Skype insiders are hoping for an out of the gate valuation of $5 billion or so, we’ve heard. Presumably Cisco would have to bidding in that range to make it interesting.
This is interesting after the recent announcement by Cisco during Cisco Live that they will soon be releasing a tablet based on Android OS to bring Telepresence to the market.
Today Cisco announced their new tablet strategy bringing telepresence to the reach of Joes and Janes like myself and you. They announced a new Android based device called Cisco Cius which taps into their collaboration architecture (remember, they were talking only collaboration for the past year) with virtual desktop integration to deliver collaboration and communication to everyone from small businesses to enterprises so that their increasingly mobile workforce is empowered. It essentially means that users will have anytime anywhere access to state of the art collaboration and communication tools. Just imagine the impact of such a device on your business or government. If you thought iPad was a killer gadget that revolutionized the world, wait till you have this one on your hands.
After their plan to bring Telepresence to masses, it is not surprising that they want to grab a VOIP provider with a huge following among the masses. If the rumor is true, it is clear that they are serious about making a run in the consumer market.
Also, keep in mind that Google is putting together an all in one solution that includes communication and collaboration aimed towards businesses of all sizes and shapes. If you look at the tools Google is bringing in to their Google Apps Suite, they are aiming towards a suite that will help members of an organization work, communicate and collaborate with just a browser. A tighter integration between their browser based voice and video services with the ability to present from their Google Docs Suite is a good alternative to Cisco’s Webex Collaboration Suite. A tool like Skype, widely used in the world of SMB, will come handy for Cisco to target this low end segment.
Well, these are all speculations (and fantasies?) based on an unauthoritative post by Mike Arrington. I guess we need to wait and see what happens before proceeding further with other speculations ![]()
. Till then, Good Night/Good Week depending on where you are.
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