Skype for Business Mac Preview adds contacts, presence and IM

Office.com/setup

We’re pleased to announce the next phase of the Skype for Business Mac Preview, which—on top of the meetings functionality released in April—brings a new set of functionalities to the app.

Let’s take a look at what’s new:

  • Contacts and presence—See whether a contact is offline or online, whether they’re busy, in a meeting or available, and easily start an IM conversation.
  • Peer-to-peer (P2P) calling—Call other Skype for Business users directly using voiceover IP.
  • Group video calling—Now you can see up to four meeting participants simultaneously.
  • Conversation history—View a list of previous conversations and restart them at will.

With group video calling, you can talk face-to-face with colleagues no matter where they’re located.

How to get these updates

There has been tremendous interest in the preview, with over 22,000 individuals, representing more than 7,000 organizations, signing up since it opened on April 26. We are now at capacity for the number of preview participants and are no longer accepting registrations. For existing preview participants, the app will automatically check for updates each time it starts.

What’s next

We expect to release the third phase of preview functionality in the summer, including voice features like the ability to dial out to a traditional phone number. And we are still targeting to make the Skype for Business Mac client generally available this fall. In between these moments, we will release minor updates to resolve any issues and address your feedback.

Thanks again for your interest!

—Paul Cannon, senior product marketing manager for the Skype for Business team