It turns out the secret to getting Microsoft to acquire your startup is to throw Ray Ozzie’s name on it, as the company just acquired its second Ozzie-founded startup, which he founded after stepping down from his position as Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect a few years ago. The startup is called Talko, and offers a service for online mobile messaging that has a number of cool features that separate it from the competition. Naturally, the Talko developers will be joining the Skype team, although it’s unclear which of the Talko features will be making their way into Skype, but we do know that Ozzie won’t be returning to the company, despite the acquisition.
Microsoft is buying Talko, the mobile messaging startup founded by Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s former Chief Software Architect until 2010. The company says today the acquisition, whose terms were not disclosed, involves the Talko technology and the team. Talko employees will now join Skype, while Talko itself is being shut down. Ozzie, however, will not be rejoining Microsoft as a part of the deal. Talko launched in September 2014 after years of development, offering a service that aimed to replace your usual conference line with VoIP, cloud-based calls. The app recorded the live conversations, and also offered additional features, like being about to create bookmarks within the conversation, tag users, and even add asynchronously shared voice-based follow ups to the conversation in question. According to Microsoft’s announcement about the acquisition, the Talko technology and the talent joining Skype will be used to help “deliver great new features and capabilities” in both Skype and Skype for Business. Meanwhile, a post on Talko’s website notes that the Talko app and its service will be sunsetted over the next several months, and will be entirely shut down by March 2016. As a part of this process, Talko will allow its current customers to export their past conversations, including voice, text and photos.
