Applications
Mobile 365 powers SMS service for Skype
MUMBAI: Mobile 365, mobile messaging and data services provider has announced that it will provide SMS services to Skype, allowing Skype users to send an SMS to a mobile phone from their PC‘s.
This service allows Skype internet users to keep in touch via SMS to mobile subscribers anywhere in the world. The service features a straightforward pricing plan wherein users can pay using their existing Skype Credit. For example, a Skype user can now contact a friend who is offline, via a mobile message and arrange a Skype call, thus extending Skype‘s reach beyond the PC.
When a Skype user sends a message, Skype distributes the message via Mobile 365‘s global inter-operator network to over 60 countries across the world. Mobile 365 accommodates high traffic volumes via its upgraded platform, which recently benefited from a $15 million investment, further enabling the network to reliably deliver messages into over 180 countries worldwide, informs an official release.
“Skype chose to work with Mobile 365 not only because of its unrivalled global SMS reach, but also because of its ability to access difficult, but highly important markets such as China and India,” said Skype Paid Products director Michael Jackson. “As a global partner, Mobile 365 offers both service reliability and availability, using multiple routes to each destination, enabling us to deliver messages with speed, quality, and ultimately, cost effectively.”
Skype is available to download at www.skype.com.
Mobile 365 CEO Gino Picasso said, “Skype is leading the way in global communications and we are delighted to have been chosen as a strategic partner in their quest to revolutionise the way consumers utilize SMS. Skype needed a global partner that is able to provide connectivity into rapidly growing regions including China and India.”
As Mobile 365 claims to be the only international aggregator with a local presence and premium connectivity into China and India (with over 500 million, and growing, mobile subscribers combined) therefore, it is well placed to help Skype deploy value-added services to its users, via premium SMS, thus opening new revenue streams in such lucrative emerging markets.
Picasso added, “We expect to build upon our SMS delivery and expand our product offerings with Skype for the global marketplace.”
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
