Skype for Mac gets update with some new features

PanARMENIAN.Net - Just hours after Google revealed its new Hangouts messaging service, Microsoft-owned Skype — one of the services that Hangouts will rival — updated its Mac desktop client with a number of new features, The Next Web reports.

The update — Skype 6.4 for Mac — includes new infinite scrolling for conversations, an improved system for searching within chats and redesigned file transfers that lets users reaccept files that are being sent to them. The service now also makes it easier for users to add new contacts sent to them by friends, and has support for Simplified Chinese.

Changes to the Skype Mac app are made all the more interesting by the fact that Hangouts does not have a native Mac application, instead using Google’s Chrome browser . That may prove to be an issue for some. Though Skype hasn’t made a massive overhaul to the Mac client, this update keeps things ticking over and serves as a reminder of its commitment to a native app, TNW says.

Google isn’t the only one encroaching on Skype territory of late. Video calling specialist Viber announced its first ever desktop apps for Mac and Windows this month, as it passed 200 million users.

Line, the Japanese service with 150 million registered users, is another mobile-only service to come to desktops, and it supports Mac OS X, Windows and Windows 8.

Skype hasn’t released its user numbers for some time. According to its most recent public figures, shared in 2010, the service has more than 660 million registered users. Bear in mind that stat is three years and doesn’t account for its active user base.