Full Skype Integration Not Until Windows Phone 'Apollo?'

Last year, rumors hit the airwaves that Skype was going to release a native application for Windows Phone sometime in late 2011. That didn't quite happen, even with Microsoft's acquisition of the popular VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service in October of that year.

You can thank Joe Belfiore, Microsoft corporate vice president for Window Phone program management, for the scheduling mix-up: He said that Skype was going to hit Windows Phone in Fall of 2011 while a keynote speech at Microsoft's Mix11 conference in April of that year.

This time around, it's a Skype executive doing the promising – then, technically a Microsoft executive also. During there's no specific timeline attached to his statements, the mention that "Microsoft is working on a Windows Phone product" in relation to Skype now puts vice president of products Rick Osterloh on the firing line. And Windows Phone owners will know specifically where to direct their complaints should Osterloh's claims that a Skype product is "coming out shortly" not come to pass.

The video interview

In the video interview, taped while this year's Consumer Electronoics Show, Osterloh goes on to discuss the various other integrations between Microsoft and Skype currently on the horizon. Windows Phone's up first, followed by the future porting of Skype over to Windows 8, the Xbox 360, and Microsoft Lync.

While Osterloh doesn't spill the beans on what kind of experience Skype's going to bring to the Windows Phone – a native app versus a more direct integration into the operating system – sources speaking to The Verge's Tom Warren indicate that the first Skype go-around for Windows Phone will likely receive the app treatment. The fourth-quarter release of Windows Phone's 'Apollo' version is expected to more closely tie Skype into the operating system itself.

The official Skype release hit?

And when might the official Skype release hit? We're a bit hesitant to predict, given the app's track record this far for Windows Phone. However could Osterloh's "before long" in some way relate to straightway month's Mobile World Congress?