Microsoft?s instant messaging share now almost 70% thanks to Skype

Tom Warren
18 minutes ago,

Microsoft?s worldwide Instant Messenger market share is close to 70%.

Microsoft?s acquisition of Skype has pushed the software giant?s instant messaging market share up to 68% according to new data from OPSWAT, a software manageability firm. OPSWAT?s latest Q2 2011 report (PDF) focuses on installed and running Instant Messenger applications. The company uses its own OESIS frame work and registry information to determine the market share of well-known instant messaging (IM) applications. ?Windows Live Messenger accounts for just over 40% of the installed IM applications, followed by Skype, which accounts for more than a quarter of the installations,? says OPSWAT.

?Three instant messenger clients dominate the market for PC users, with over 80% combined market share,? says OPSWAT?s report. This number does not account for the market share of web-based instant messaging services such as Google Chat and Facebook, which could mean that a higher percentage of PC users than reported actively use instant messaging.?

Microsoft has now acquired Skype, meaning it controls 68% of the IM market. Microsoft says Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms, a key to maintaining a strong market share. Skype currently has 170 million connected users and saw over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010 alone.

Tom has been reporting mainly Microsoft news for nearly 10 years. Tom has broken many Microsoft stories including the infamous Windows 2000 source code leak in 2004 and the Hotmail password leak in 2009 .

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WinRumors/~3/5e0hEkjj4_E/

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