Support, premium features, trust, and non-North American markets.
I'm a reasonably happy Skype user with numbers in a couple of countries and an active subscription. It'd take a lot to get me to switch - my usecase is more expensive/not possible with hangouts. Not to mention that Google seems to always find a way to fuck things up (I have [had?] Google Voice credit but couldn't get paid calls connected in the past).
Skype works, has customer support (?), can sell me things that I want like phone numbers, SMS messages etc. Skype also has some trust because it's their core business and they can't decide to stop offering telephony services one day.
I'd be surprised if a significant portion of Skype's profit came from US-based national calls; and there's nothing overly compelling here for the rest of the world.
To me, this seems like more of an attack on the telecommunications companies, because customers on wifi aren't going to be using precious minutes any more.
Skype is available on more platforms, including Blackberry, Windows Phone, OS X, 'Skype Landlines', Kindle Fire HD, TVs, Xbox, Playstation, even iPod.
Skype is a standalone application where the only account you need is a Skype one, which is free, and isn't tied to any personal information other than an e-mail address.
If you've ever tried to run Hangouts from a 'non-supported' operating system / distribution / architecture / browser / mobile device, it doesn't freaking work. It's not designed as a proper stand-alone application so it simply doesn't work on platforms it wasn't designed for. Skype is a static application designed to run on basically anything.
Google appears to be the one lagging behind both Apple and Microsoft in terms of shipping free video calling with their platform. They have a lot of ground to cover in terms of user experience and getting users to switch from the established Skype and Facetime camps.
> Skype is a standalone application where the only account you need is a Skype one, which is free, and isn't tied to any personal information other than an e-mail address.
When Microsoft bought Skype, I seem to recall them requiring all new users to use a Microsoft account instead of a Skype account. That isn't the case now, and it may have just been a confusing installer at the time, but it's a concern.
I'm a reasonably happy Skype user with numbers in a couple of countries and an active subscription. It'd take a lot to get me to switch - my usecase is more expensive/not possible with hangouts. Not to mention that Google seems to always find a way to fuck things up (I have [had?] Google Voice credit but couldn't get paid calls connected in the past).
Skype works, has customer support (?), can sell me things that I want like phone numbers, SMS messages etc. Skype also has some trust because it's their core business and they can't decide to stop offering telephony services one day.
I'd be surprised if a significant portion of Skype's profit came from US-based national calls; and there's nothing overly compelling here for the rest of the world.
To me, this seems like more of an attack on the telecommunications companies, because customers on wifi aren't going to be using precious minutes any more.