Swoop could be a new beginning

Microsoft's purchase of Skype has stunned analysts and shocked the technology world.

For months, the likes of Facebook and Google have been sniffing around Skype, but thanks to its desperation to compete in the internet world (and vast pockets), Microsoft has finally triumphed.

What the deal shows us is Microsoft is struggling. It missed the first wave of the internet revolution and failed to ignite the mobile phone market. It also let social networking pass it by as Facebook and Twitter ruled. The one area it could control is internet calls (be they voice or video).

This, it seems to think, offers a technology that could reinvigorate its phone business and give it a hold in social networking, finally giving it the "cool" image it desperately wants. And there are also the 600 million customer details it will get access to.

However, it's not straightforward. Skype's routing of calls over the internet is unlikely to impress the mobile phone networks crucial to Microsoft's future. But Microsoft admits it needs to look outside its own campus. The move could be the first of a string of acquisitions that give the post-Bill Gates company a new lease of life.