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Nokia Says Skype Scares Carries and Hinders Windows Phone Sales

posted on May 4th 2012 by

At a recent shareholder’s meeting, Stephen Elop told investors that the reason Windows Phone sales are so poor is that carriers are hostile to the platform because Microsoft now owns Skype, a VoIP platform used by more than 50 million people across the globe. Elop attributes poor Nokia handset sales to carriers being lukewarm about Microsoft-owned Skype, despite the service not being pre-installed on any devices.

Don’t worry Verizon and Sprint, if you’re worried about people dropping their plans all together in order to use Skype exclusively, it’s got a long way to go on Windows Phone. The fact that it’s incapable of even sending push notifications properly should be some indication to just how shoddy the implementation is on Microsoft’s own platform.

[via Business Insider]


  • I think that argument is pretty silly. Sprint fully backs people making their cell number their Google Voice number. With that you can VOIP all day long and could easily just go without a plan and use the app on wifi and via computers, just like Skype (except an even better phone replacement).

    It just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. If they keep this up, it’s obvious that execs are just pointing at any possible reason to wiggle out of blame for why carriers won’t run with their phone. The real reason is the subsidies/investment in a platform they see little/no desire for among their subscribers. Create a demand and they will flock to it.

  • I think that argument is pretty silly. Sprint fully backs people making their cell number their Google Voice number. With that you can VOIP all day long and could easily just go without a plan and use the app on wifi and via computers, just like Skype (except an even better phone replacement).

    It just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. If they keep this up, it’s obvious that execs are just pointing at any possible reason to wiggle out of blame for why carriers won’t run with their phone. The real reason is the subsidies/investment in a platform they see little/no desire for among their subscribers. Create a demand and they will flock to it.

  • G P

    you are wrong. google voice on android is NOT voip and does use carrier minutes. in addition, google voice is not video chat and hardly competes on data usage with skype.

  • WinSource

    G P is correct. Google Voice uses carrier minutes.

  • Sorry, for the mistake on it being VOIP via phone, but I do use it on my computer and wifi-only tablet regularly to make calls, check messages, and send texts. Sprint, by teaming with that service, has encouraged that in its userbase. That’s more of what I was getting at.