Skype Appoints New Operating Officer

Skype announced the appointment of Scott Durchslag as its new chief operating officer and he is to assume this position with immediate effect. The announcement was made on Tuesday when Durchslag, a former Motorola executive, was told he would be reporting directly to Josh Silverman, the president of Skype.

His appointment by Skype may not have been unconnected with his outstanding track record during the time he was with Motorola. Joining the company in 1992, Scott job was on important issues that range from product strategy, innovation, intellectual property, design, user interfaces to include others such as consumer experiences, partnerships, product marketing and customer care.

Another successful landmark achieved at Motorola by Scott is the fact that he was a major factor who helped seal deals with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Kodak that brought their products to Motorola phones which attracted a considerable number of customers.

While speaking about his new appointment, the Skype's new chief operating officer said that "I believe in Skype not only because I've been a user since the early days, but also because I'm convinced the opportunities ahead for Skype are tremendous given how the world is changing. Skype connects customers and enables smaller businesses to grow without the unnecessary fuel consumption, costs and carbon pollution generated by needless travel."

In his comment, Silverman stated that "Scott has an outstanding track record and will be able to help us apply best practices in staying ever more customer-focused and nimble, even while becoming larger."

In another development, Skype announced its partnership with Wireless Innovation Alliance (WIA), an organization dedicated to gaining access to TV white spaces. This was necessitated by the fact that when broadcasters shift from analog to digital signals in February 2009, there will be an open, unregulated spectrum between the digital channels, or white spaces, that Internet companies like Google and Microsoft want to use for wireless broadband service. The WIA has approximately 15 members, including Microsoft, Google, Motorola, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard.