October 17, 2007 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Social networking gargantuan MySpace has partnered with Skype to offer a “Call Service”, it was reported recently. From the end of November members of MySpace’s 110 million user-strong network will be able to call each other using the Skype platform. Financial terms for the agreement have not been revealed.
MySpace users will be able to call each other and Skype users. Although these calls will be free, there will be a charge for users calling people through traditional telephone services or mobile telephones. The service will not require MySpace users to download additional software and will be offered as an extension of its instant messaging features. Users who set their profiles to "private" will not receive Skype calls from people they have not actively added to their “friends” list.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation purchased MySpace for US$580 million in July 2005, a figure that was subsequently recognized as a genuine bargain, while eBay acquired Skype in September 2005 for $2.6 Billion, a figure that has since been considered inflated. The collaboration establishes a potentially formidable network and further underscores the move away from traditional hosting services to sites offering specialist online services. Skype has 220 million users.
