Skype and VOIP Thoughts
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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Online auctioneer eBay Inc. said Monday, Niklas Zennstrom, the co-founder and chief executive of Internet phone service Skype, , is stepping down and will become non-executive chairman of Skype’s board.
Four of my friends joined me for this discussion: Kat, SC_Thor, Wirelesspacket, and last but certainly not least… Datalore.
EBay acquired Skype, a provider of Internet telephony services, in October 2005 for approximately $2.6 billion, plus an optional amount dependent on the achievement of certain goals.
From the start, many have questioned the logic behind the acquisition, suggesting that eBay would have a difficult time recouping its investment and leveraging Skype to boost interactions eBay among buyers and sellers.
Skype will try to boost its monetization capabilities by exploring broader e-commerce options, possibly within services like SkypeFind, in which businesses are listed and recommended, and SkypePrime, a service for selling advise and expertise.
The general consensus amongst us on the Skype call is that Skype is a good service for communication. I personally don’t use it much, because I prefer my phone or other IM clients. We haven’t come to an agreement yet, though, on what the future of Skype actually will be. What are your thoughts? Do you use Skype? Do you feel it’s going to become a huge force in the VOIP world, or will it fizzle out? Let me hear your comments, thoughts and ideas!
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4 Comments
Mikelinux
October 2nd, 2007
at 5:39pm
Skype is imho very popular for a lot of users. But microsoft are also providing “audio-calls” and “video-calls” in their Windows Live messenger.
Together with the build in Livecall, its even possible to call normal phones after creating a livecall account.
For me it’s a bit different. Since i am using Opensuse Linux as my main OS, i cannot use Windows Live Messenger. I do have a MSN clone, called Amsn, but for now it’s only supporting voiceclips when it comes to audiochat. Skype however is available for linux as well, and in my case, even as an precompiled RPM package. The sound works great, and i also like the group conference calls on skype, however the sound quality changes during the “calls”. Its like having some bandwith issues.
I also think that Skype is a good OS independant Instant messaging application with good voice support and it really forms a good bridge for people who are using different operating systems.So i could call people who are on a Mac,windows or Linux computer with just 1 application.
Only for the feature that Skype is almost platform independant, it will remain in the future. I do hope that there will be more better features available in Skype, so that it can compete with the more “mainstream” instant messaging programs.
bayoujim
October 3rd, 2007
at 6:33am
Skype is easy to use for beginning VOIP users, I do voice communications with people from Morocco, China, England and where language is a barrier the chat (with Powerword translation) works at the same time as voice.
Voicemail is nice, no one is left out. Video cam is nice also.
If Skype raises their prices anymore I will change to another VOIP.
John Neilson
October 4th, 2007
at 4:41am
I use Skype from Australia to U.S.A.mainly for two reasons – it’s cheaper than my other VoIP service and I can dial toll-free numbers [800] in the USA from Australia for free. My other service “Freshtel” is good for local and STD calls witin Australia – 10 ¢ untimed to landline phones, 21 ¢ per minute to mobiles, and no flagfall. It’s also clearer than Skype.
John M
October 4th, 2007
at 1:29pm
hey, just a comment on the VoIP… I’ve never used Skype before, but there are other free VoIP software out there. For example, TeamSpeak or Ventrilo. This applications are mostly used by the gamming community but can be installed and used by anyone with a mic. TeamSpeak currently allows the average user to maintain a 100slot server free of charge where’s Ventrilo only allows 8slots. Many claim Ventrilo has better sound quality, but It’s trully a Mac-Vs-PC kinda thing ;)