Microsoft adds ability to call phones to Skype for Web

Microsoft is adding new capabilities to its Skype for Web, as well as its Skype for Business services. Skype for Web users can now call cell phones and landlines directly.

Microsoft has updated its Skype for Web offering with the ability to call mobile phones and landlines.

Users can make international calls directly from Skype for Web to cell phones or landlines using Skype credits or subscriptions, company officials said on March 14.

To access Skype for Web, users can go to Skype.com or web.skype.com and sign in and connect. Skype for Web, which is still in beta, alleviates the need to download the Skype app before conferencing and/or instant-messaging others.

Microsoft also added the ability to watch a YouTube video directly from inside Skype for Web via a video link. The ability to add people to a conversation, even if they're not on Skype is another feature Microsoft has brought to Skype for Web, execs said. And if users are signed into Skype for Web, they now will receive notifications even if they're in another tab or app.

In other Skype news -- though on the business side of the house, not the consumer one -- Microsoft last week expanded the availability of its PSTN conferencing to 17 additional countries, bringing the total number of countries where PSTN conferencing is available to to 32. Microsoft officials say that number will be nearly 100 by the end of June 2016. PSTN conferencing is public switched telephone network conferencing.

There's a new Cloud Connector Edition of Skype for Business Server coming in April. The Cloud Connector Edition will allow users to connect existing phone lines/number to Office 365 using optimized, preconfigured virtual machine images.

In addition, Microsoft and conferencing equipment vendors also launched a new initiative, codenamed "Project Rigel" to bring the Skype Meeting experience that will be featured onMicrosoft Surface Hubs -- whenever they are finally available-- to any meeting room with a display or projector. Via Project Rigel, Windows 10 devices will be able to control Skype for Business online meetings and remotely connect users starting in the second half of 2016.

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Microsoft High On Office 365 Success

Summary

Do you know how popular Office 365 is compared to Google Apps for Work? You'll be surprised!

Microsoft's sales strategy for Office 365 has been aggressive and controversial, but it has been extremely effective.

The ball is now in Google's court. Can they respond with an equally aggressive strategy and astonish us with their numbers over the next few quarters?

When I first read about how Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was slowly edging out Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Apps from the office suite space, I was a little surprised. To be honest, I didn't really know the numbers, but I had a bias towards Google Apps. I'd been using it for quite a while and everyone I knew used it as well, so in my mind it was the best option in the business.

But the moment I started digging for the facts, I was shocked by how cleverly Microsoft has been going about decimating Google's position in the top three - along with salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) and Box (NYSE:BOX). I also found several interesting things about both Google Apps as well as Office 365.

A Primer on Office Suite from Google and Microsoft

An office suite from a cloud application perspective is a set of tools designed for businesses to operate more efficiently and with a much lower investment in IT infrastructure. It's not an infrastructure service as much as an appealing cloud environment, where company employees can collaborate more effectively, access their files from anywhere without major security concerns and access the tools they need to do their jobs.

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