Microsoft Skype Buy Approved By EU

It appears that last May's Microsoft acquisition of Skype has finally been approved by the EU. This Friday Microsoft can officially say that, at least in Europe, it'll be able to purchase Skype for $8.5 billion. The European Commission noted that it found both firms activities "overlapped for video communications, where Microsoft is active through its Windows Live Messenger." This of course is noted in regards to competition and whether or not there are "competition concerns" in the deal.

As you may already know, Microsoft is certainly ramping up efforts to integrate their desktop and mobile platforms, and with Skype, they'll have one dedicated place for video chat, text chat, and phone communications. The EU noted on competition for the future:

"However, the Commission considers that there are no competition concerns in this growing market where numerous players, including Google, are present." – EU

It's expected that Skype functionality will be built into a number of Microsoft products through the future. Amongst these is Microsoft's Windows and Office software, in addition to their mobile platform Windows Phone 7 (currently Windows Phone 7.5 Mango). The U.S. Federal Trade Commission cleared this purchase deal all the way back in June, so Microsoft should basically be good to go from here!