Mobile video sharing service Qik, which recently announced it had 5 million worldwide users, is to be acquired by Skype. The transaction is expected to be completed later this month.
California-based Qik, which has 60 employees, offers a video streaming service that’s available on over 200 mobile phones running Android, iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile.
In a blog post, Skype CEO Tony Bates said “Skype and Qik share a common purpose of enriching communications with video, and the acquisition of Qik will help to accelerate our leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to our product portfolio. Through this acquisition, we’ll also be able to take advantage of the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.”