Skype porting Android app to BlackBerry 10

Skype revealed its forthcoming over-the-top calling and messaging application for BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) 10 will be a port of its existing app for Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android.

Skype is one of dozens of high-profile developer and publisher partners who've committed to supporting BlackBerry 10, formally unveiled late last month. Skype has not announced an official release date, but its support site states "If you have a new BlackBerry smartphone powered by the BlackBerry 10 platform, you will soon be able to download and run Skype on these devices. We are working closely with BlackBerry to ensure the Skype for Android app runs great in the BlackBerry 10 environment."

The BlackBerry 10 SDK includes the BlackBerry Runtime for Android, enabling developers to port and repackage applications originally written the Google OS; insiders tell Engadget that roughly 40 percent of all 70,000 third-party BB 10 apps are adapted from Android releases. Outlets including The Verge contend that Android apps already available for BlackBerry 10 deliver a less-than-optimal performance, although BlackBerry has vowed to update the runtime to support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which should improve the user experience.

Skype for Android offers free voice and video calling alongside IM, SMS, photo sharing and file sharing. The application supports both Wi-Fi and 3G. In addition to Android and BlackBerry, Skype supports parent firm Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone and Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS.

More than 45 percent of smartphone owners now use some form of instant messaging or over-the-top messaging app in addition to or instead of traditional SMS, according to a survey conducted in late 2012 by Analysys Mason; in addition, 20 percent of consumers use a VoIP app, and 20 percent within that segment use it more than conventional voice services. Analysys Mason notes that Skype dominates the VoIP market, with 79 percent of VoIP app users/16 percent of all respondents embracing the service.

For more:
- see this Skype page
- read this Verge article
- read this Engadget article

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