Consumer/Business Integration
With Lync and Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft already has a set of video and voice based calling services for both the enterprise and consumer segments. However, neither of these are as fully polished as Skype, which is its own entity and brand. Skype will definitely not replace these entities, but look for Microsoft will likely be integrate it with them and make them stronger. Reuters

The ailing software maker will eventual overtake Apple in the smartphone software market, according to new projections released today.

Market research firm IDC today offer up their projections for the smartphone market in 2015, predicting that Microsoft software is expected to soar from 5.5 percent market share this year to 21 percent in just four years -- soaring past Apple's expected 15.5 percent.

The secret to this jump? IDC says the company's recently inked partnership with Nokia should give it a boost.

The new alliance brings together Nokia's hardware capabilities and Windows Phone's differentiated platform, IDC analyst Ramon Llamas is quoted in the note as saying. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012. By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android.

The ultimate leader, however, would be Google's Android operating system, which would have 45.4 percent share of mobile operating systems on smartphones, up from 39.5 in 2011.

Microsoft Smartphone Android Microsoft