Kiwis like the look of new Facebook-Skype

One regular Facebook user in Wellington told ONE News hedownloaded the application this morning shortly after theannouncement.。What do you think? Have you tried it? Have your say onthe messageboard below.。Facebook has integrated Skype video chat into itssocial networking service, striking a deal to cement its role as ahub for communications. It launched the service today. 。The agreement, announced by Facebook Chief Executive MarkZuckerberg at the company's Palo Alto, California, headquarters,deepens its co-operation with Microsoft, which is in the process ofacquiring Skype for $US8.5 billion.。"The quality is okay. I don't know if it's more compressed thanSkype's stand-alone application.。"This is opening up a whole new user base for Skype," said KimCaughey Forrest, senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group.。"I literally jumped on, downloaded the app and tested it withone of my colleagues on the other side of the room," he said.。

Facebook now has Skype chat - Source: ONE NewsKiwis who have tried out the new Skype on Facebook say it seemspretty good and is easy enough to set up.。Skype, which was founded in 2003, allows people to make Internetphone calls and video calls at no charge and has also developedpremium services.。Facebook's new offering, which initially is limited toone-to-one video chat, could benefit Microsoft, which owns 1.6% ofFacebook and announced its purchase of Skype in May.。Microsoft shares rose 0.9% to $26.26 on Nasdaq, while Google'srose 0.87% to $536.64.。* Heather du Plessis-Allan tries out the new app on ONENews at 6pm.。 。Group messaging added too。The world's largest software company is trying to muscle in onGoogle's turf with its Bing search engine, and is hoping Skype willhelp it broaden its portfolio of Web-based properties.。"The core of Skype users are people that have extraordinarycircumstances - they have a computer but no money, or they havefriends and family on a different continent. This could ultimatelygrow the number of Skype numbers that use it within the UnitedStates."。But Zuckerberg obviously sees big benefits in the video chatapp. He said Facebook now has 750 million users and could be a hugeboost for Skype, which currently has about 145 million regularusers.。While many of Google+'s social networking features are similarto those already available on Facebook, Google has attracted praisefor its videoconferencing function, which allows up to 10 people onthe service to participate in a video call.。He said being a big user of the chat functionality throughFacebook he's not too sure how much he'll use the video versionthough.。"I'm not sure how I'll embrace this because it's like callingversus texting someone."。 。Facebook, which also unveiled a group messaging function, addingto its existing one-to-one text chat, is striking back at GoogleInc, which last week turned up the competitive heat by introducinga social networking service dubbed Google+.