Skype offers third-party app directory

Skype has launched a third-party applications directory, and while it should not be confused with the type of virtual big-box app store that Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and others have, the endeavor likely provides an indication of the role third-party app developers may play once Skype is officially acquired by Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) .

As with other technology phenoms, an enthusiastic ecosystem of application developers has grown up around Skype, though the VoIP juggernaut has never sought to establish itself as an app store or app regulator. Meanwhile, Apple has done exactly that, approving, curating and selling hundreds of thousands off different apps, while copycats like Google's (Nasdaq:GOOG) Android Market and the Amazon (Nasdaq:AMZN) Appstore have followed its model.

Wired points out that the app directory created by Skype so far includes only about 20 or so apps, with many popular apps not even in its initial listings. Rather than creating another iTunes copycat, Skype may not be moving toward establishing an app store at all but may simply be lending some organization to its third-party app ecosystem as it awaits its acquisition by Microsoft.

Microsoft, on the other hand, may have bigger plans for Skype's third party app directory. One can easily envision Microsoft taking the app store route by plowing the marketing money, payments models and resources into it that Apple has put into its own. What that could mean is that while third-party app developers have a pretty easy and unrestrained relationship with Skype for now, that could change once Microsoft takes control and starts running them through the rigors of an app store approval process.

For more:
-see this Wired post

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Skype recently announced it was buying GroupMe
Microsoft announced its Skype acquisition in May