Skype Opens Up SkypeKit SDK To All Devices And Desktop Apps | Hacker News Reader

Skype Opens Up SkypeKit SDK To All Devices And Desktop Apps

techcrunch.com

84 pointsmattyb21 comments

"SkypeKit supports Linux now and in a few weeks Windows and Mac support will come out as well."

wow, never thought this order would ever happen ;)

I think they're concentrated on the mobile environment.

SkypeKit for consumer electronic device makers will be available tomorrow, June 23, based on the Linux OS. For desktop software developers, SkypeKit will be available for Windows and Mac in the next few weeks.

http://blogs.skype.com/devzone/2010/06/skypekit_beta.html

It's amazing that Unix kernels rule the modern mobile OS landscape. Like Objective-C and Cocoa, it shows how far a good, simple design can take you. Talk about reusability, Linux has proven to be a good fit for everything from your phone (and smaller) up to Crays (and larger). Amazing.

Um, let me get this straight. They are pre-announcing the fact that I will be able to sign up for for the waiting list in a month? Exciting news :(

Developers can register for an invitation to the SkypeKit Beta Program beginning on July 23.

http://developer.skype.com/public/skypekit

So, does this mean that they are going to stop being such jerks about allowing Skype on mobile devices? You know, like killing Skype for Android because they want to force people to pay on mobile for what they can do for free everywhere else?

Isn't this an issue with the carriers and not Skype? In the US, Skype is currently available for Android devices on Verizon's network.

I downloaded Skype onto my wife's Droid on the Verizon network. The app doesn't work with wifi though, which is annoying. I think Verizon is requiring it to work only through their data network, so they get paid.

Maybe Skype is releasing this SDK in the hope of making an end-run around these kinds of barriers?

Really? There seems to be a lot of contradicting info about the Skype app and the 3rd party apps and what they do and cannot do on Android.

Last time I checked, the Skype app for Android was doing regular voice calls (no data). And there was no 3rd party Skype to do anything remotely related to chats/audio calls/video calls.

No. If it were an issue with the carriers, then Skype could easily have made the now-defunct Skype Lite WiFi-only, just like they do on the Blackberry, and just like many other VOiP apps, such as Vonage, do on both the iPhone and the Android.

The fact is, Skype Light, released in January '09, used your carrier's minutes when you made calls. In that regard it was similar to Google Voice. This was most definitely NOT a carrier issue.

Skype was planning to charge monthly fees, payable to Skype for using the mobile version of Skype. It was this, and not the carriers, that precipitated Skype Lite being pulled from the Marketplace.

looking forward to see this integrated into empathy.

Looking forward to see this integrated into Irssi.

I look forward to seeing this integrated into boxee.

Etc, etc, etc. Adding it into existing chat clients is a fairly obvious usage. I'm curious as to what else can be done with it that won't be expected.

Anyone know what tech stack/language the SDK is in? Java? C++?

I'm betting it's a platform-agnostic API.

They need to be able to run from both .NET (Windows 7 devices), *nix (embedded systems), Java (Android, BlackBerry), and C/C++ (iPhone) environments.

Most likely it'll be some sort of SOAP/REST API for authentication and management combined with a SIP or SIP-like standardized VoIP protocol.

I doubt that - it wouldn't make sense to write something that wasteful (in terms of computation, not tech) for something that primarily target embedded stuff.

Most likely you will have a relatively simple C api (not C++, as the C++ isn't likely to be portable across compilers).

I'm baffled why I cannot sign up for the waiting list now.

Does it take a month to actually build a waiting list form?

I wonder how F/OSS-friendly their licensing will be. I know that Pidgin is pretty ambivalent about their Skype plugin due to licensing issues: http://pidgin.im/pipermail/devel/2009-April/008070.html

I'm actually quite excited about this and have been waiting for it for 5 years.

I think Skype Kit can bring a lot of innovation to software and create a much bigger ecosystem around their network

Dear Boxee, if you stalk HN, please give us Skype :-)

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