Microsoft’s Skype Lite Android app launches in India

An interesting counter-trend is emerging among the world’s most popular apps. With Facebook launching the likes of Messenger Lite and Facebook Lite last year to cater for emerging markets, Microsoft is following suit debuting Skype Lite this week.

Like its Facebook counterparts, Skype Lite will be available for low-cost Android devices, and cater exclusively (at least for now) to the Indian smartphone market.

Overall the Hyderabad-developed app is said to be more usable on low-speed networks, use less battery and works with India’s Aadhaar identification number system to streamline signups and identification.

Skype Lite is a direct competitor to Facebook Messenger Lite but comes with added Indian flair

Although Microsoft has its own OS (in case you forgot about Windows 10 Phone), the company has launched the app on Android. That’s largely thanks to India’s voracious Android usage and app download rate.

There’s no indication that Microsoft will launch Skype Lite in other emerging markets in the future, but it seems unlikely that the company won’t follow in Facebook’s footsteps.

If you’re in India, you can download the app here.