Ex-Skypers Launch 'Wire' Chat App (PCMagazine)

• BY STEPHANIE MLOT
• DECEMBER 3, 2014

The folks who brought you Skype have a new communication tool called Wire.

Janus Friis helped launch Skype, now owned by Microsoft, more than 10 years ago. This week, the Danish entrepreneur rolled out a new platform for iOS, Android, and Mac OS X.

Whether you use Wire for personal or group messaging, voice calling, or photo, music, and video sharing, conversations are synced across devices, including theiPhone 6 and latest Android gadgets.

"We asked ourselves how modern communications could look and work," co-founder and CEO Jonathan Christensen said in a statement. "How could we take full advantage of the latest devices and advances in cloud computing to deliver something that is really simple, very useful and truly beautiful?"

Wire combines traditional chat service features like text, voice, and video with things like photos and music. The company promised crisp calls thanks to its in-house-developed audio technology; Wire also supports audio calls to and from WebRTC-compatible browsers.

"Skype was launched more than a decade ago. A lot has changed since them," Friis said. "We are all used to free calls and texting, and we have taken to carrying our computers in our pockets. It is time to create the best possible communication tools, as beautiful as they are useful. Wire is just that."

The company employs former product and technology leaders from Apple, Skype, Nokia, and Microsoft. Before launching Wire, Christensen held leadership roles at Microsoft and Skype, and served as CEO at Camino Networks.

Headquartered in Switzerland with a development center in Berlin, Wire co-founders include CTO Alan Duric (of Telio and Camino) and head of product design Priidu Zilmer (from Vdio and Skype); chief scientist Koen Vos helped to create the SILK and Opus audio codecs.

The free application is available now to download in the iTunes and Mac App stores and Google Play. A browser-based version is coming soon.

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland.