Online messaging giant Skype has agreed to acquire GroupMe, a start-up company based in New York, a move that will allow the company to enter the group messaging market.
Skype is now hoping to provide users a global multi-platform and multi-modal communications experience. The GroupMe app allows users to make conference calls and send text messages to friends or colleagues.
The start-up, however, is now facing growing competition from big companies like Google, Facebook and Apple, which are releasing new messaging services for smartphones, including group messaging. Now Skype will challenge Google+’s Huddle and the new Facebook Messenger service.
“Skype and GroupMe have a shared vision of creating applications and experiences that are the daily communications choice for a billion people. We will continue to seek the top talent and technology to make that vision a reality,” said Tony Bates, Skype’s chief executive officer. “The GroupMe team has created an incredibly sticky group messaging experience that works across mobile devices and platforms, making this a perfect addition to the voice, video and text products in the Skype family.”
GroupMe said in its blog post that as part of the deal with Skype, the company will still remain in New York, with its entire team intact and working on its application. It added that the major difference will be that GroupMe will now have access to the online messaging giant’s “175 monthly connected users.”
Skype did not comment on whether the GroupMe messaging service will be integrated with their services, or will continue as a separate service.
via: Geeky Gadgets
