Skype has done a good job of staying ahead of the curve and keeping up with mobile video as it continues to advance. Earlier this month, Skype bought Qik, a service that lets users stream video from their smartphones. The deal has been reported to be valued anywhere from $100-150 million, though Skype said it won’t provide terms of the acquisition.

On January 14, 2011, Neil Stevens, vice president and general manager for Consumer, confirmed the acquisition was complete on Skype’s blog.

“I’m happy to confirm that we’ve completed the acquisition of Qik (News - Alert). The transfer of shares and funds between the shareholders of Qik and Skype was completed today and Qik is now under the ownership of Skype. We’re very excited about this move, and look forward to working together with the Qik team to make our mobile video products even better,” Stevens said.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the move comes as Skype looks to bolster its smartphone-video operations as more companies, such as Apple (News - Alert) Inc. with its Face Time video application, jump into the smartphone streaming-video fray and live video-streaming services such as Ustream gain popularity.

The growth of the front-facing camera on mobile devices and tablets has expedited the development of video chat in the past couple of years. Skype just announced video chat for the iPhone (News - Alert) at the end of last year so acquiring a company like Qik that focuses solely on mobile video was a smart decision on Skype’s part.

 “Qik has worked very hard to solve complex problems that allow millions of people everyday to take advantage of sharing their lives with those people who are most important to them,” said Vijay Tella, chief executive officer of Qik, in a statement.

The Qik service is available on more than 200 mobile phones across the Android, iPhone, BlackBerry (News - Alert) and Windows Mobile platforms.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications & technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2011, taking place Feb 2-4, 2011, in Miami. ITEXPO (News - Alert) (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here. And don’t forget to follow the ITEXPO pages on Facebook & Twitter for all the latest updates on the show!

Stefanie Mosca is a Web editor for TMCnet. Previously she worked as a freelance copy editor for Digital Surgeons LLC. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Haven. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca