Qik has a long association with Nokia phones. In its earliest version, back in the summer of 2008, it was available for the Nokia N95. Qik later added support for additional phones and platforms. Last summer Qik premièred the premium version of its software on Nokia's Ovi Store.
Qik currently has more than 5 million users and is estimated to be adding roughly 500,000 users per month. The core feature of Qik is focused around video sharing, either via live streaming or via upload to video sharing sites. However it has recently added, in its Android version, video chat features, which may have sharpened Skype's interest in the company.
Skype has not released details of the acquisition, but Business Insider are reporting that their sources indicate the price is in the range of $150 million.
Skype released the following statement:
Skype and Qik share a common purpose of enriching communications with video, and the acquisition of Qik will help to accelerate our leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to our product portfolio.
Through this acquisition, we’ll also be able to take advantage of the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.
Together, we’ll focus on providing great products that will allow people around the world to share experiences in real-time video across different platforms, as well as storing those moments so they can be viewed later.
Qik Premium running on the N97 mini