Skype showcases Windows 8 version

Skype will launch a version that works on the newest tablet platform around Windows 8.

This is the first announcement the video calling company has made since its integration with Microsoft just over a year ago with Skype for Windows 8, focussing on how people are using Skype today, re-imagining the product as an everyday communications product for its global community.

"Skype for Windows 8 is almost here and we are incredibly excited by this important new version of Skype," says Mark Gillet, Skype.

"This is our big step forward together with Microsoft to introduce a completely new Skype experience, which is designed to be always on, immersive, effortless and fun to use.

"The team at Skype has been building on the Windows platform since the first release of Skype.

"With Skype for Windows 8 we've focused on how people are using Skype today, and re-imagined Skype for everyday communications across our global community."

Key features of Skype for Windows 8:

· Focused on the people you care aboutSkype puts the people and messages that matter most to you at the heart of our new experience

· Always ReachableWith Skype for Windows 8, you can be always available and reachable, running seamlessly in the background without draining your battery.

· Modern designSkype for Windows 8 is fast, fluid and easy to use. The mission was to build a truly modern Skype, as comfortable and easy to use with touch as with a keyboard and a mouse.

· Skype and People appSkype puts you and your contacts front-and-centre and simplifies how you contact them on desktop PCs or mobile devices across the entire Windows 8 experience, not just within Skype

Skype for Windows 8 will be available on October 27, 2012.