Skype Lite, Smart Cars: Satya Nadella on Microsoft’s India Plans

In addition to harping on its cloud services, Microsoft announced Skype Lite for 2G network users in India.

Microsoft’s big Satya Nadella event was mainly aimed at sharing what the company is doing for businesses in India, and how cloud computing is flourishing under its wing.

At the Future Decoded event in Mumbai on Wednesday, Microsoft also unveiled Skype Lite, which will allow a wider spectrum of mobile users in the country to communicate via Skype.

Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and Aadhaar were also some of the other key points. So, here are are the big takeaways from the event.

Skype Lite

Skype Lite is Microsoft’s India-first product. It works even on 2G connections, and offers built-in support for Aadhaar.

Focus on Aadhaar

With Skype Lite, Aadhaar reaches mass consumers on their mobile phones, giving us another indication that Aadhaar-based payments are well on their way.

With the Aadhaar database and integrating that with our cloud, we can ensure that the identity of users in India is well-established.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO

The Connected Car

Having spent 25 years in the tech industry, I have seen the auto industry transform like never before.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO

He stressed on how cars are going to carry more processing than most computers. More data will be collected in them than in PCs. There is more AI going to be built into cars so that they can do things like influence and prediction, especially with self-driving.

Many auto companies have come to work along with us on cloud. Toyota, Ford and BMW have all worked with us to use the cloud and I am ecstatic to see Tata Motors joins the same industry movement.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO

It’s fair to say that the future of computing in India revolves around cloud. However, Microsoft also realises there’s a long way to go before India can have the conducive technological infrastructure, as is clear from the unveiling of a ‘lighter’ version of Skype.

By offering a low-end version of its product for Indian users, the company is following the lead of Google and Facebook in recent years.

Aadhaar has its own set of detractors, who point out privacy issues. But looks like Microsoft is confident enough to go along with it, by integrating Aadhaar into Skype Lite.