[*] Fallout of Skype purchase from Microsoft

[Adam Thompson]

One word: mindshare.

(Ok, two words: social relevancy)

IMHO, that's the driver behind the purchase.  "Bing", anyone?  MSN?  Etc.


Sean Walberg <sean at ertw.com> wrote:

>How could Skype become *less* open than it is now? :)
>
>WRT Skype/Asterisk, I'm curious what kind of revenue that means. If I had to
>guess, the revenue is insignificant.  Microsoft probably got rid of Skype's
>payroll department, but that didn't make the news.
>
>Skype has two things to offer:
>
>1. The technology
>2. The user base (which by extension, includes the revenue stream)
>
>For $8B Microsoft could have easily built their own. So it must be about the
>users and/or revenue. But Skype's revenue ($1B/yr est) pales compared to
>Microsoft's ($65B/yr). The business division (which I think is where the
>VoIP stuff is) has about $21B of revenue attached. Skype would be a fraction
>of that. And Skype users don't necessarily overlap with the corporate users.
> I really don't know what Microsoft gets out of this.
>
>The other possible reason for Microsoft's purchase of Skype could have been
>to prevent someone else from buying it.
>
>Sean
>
>On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:23 PM, John Lange <john at johnlange.ca> wrote:
>
>> In my opinion Skype will be replaced in a heartbeat by whatever the
>> next big thing is and MS will be left holding an empty bag where
>> $8Billion dollars used to be.
>>
>> Once cell providers are finally pushed (kicking and screaming) into
>> offering data-only "phones" and one of my "apps" is something that
>> lets me "phone" anywhere any time for free, why do I need Skype? You
>> might argue that Skype will end up being "the app" in question, but
>> with Microsoft at the helm it surely will not be.
>>
>> Microsoft did not buy Skype to get into the "Skype business", it
>> bought Skype to help push it's traditional software products. That, by
>> definition means Skype will become less open. Already they've yanked
>> Skype for Asterisk. Will Microsoft continue to push Skype for
>> iPad/iPhone/Android ? I can't think of any reason why they would.
>>
>> So the app that unites all "phone" users will have to be something else.
>>
>> John
>>
>> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:54 AM, Bill Reid <billreid at shaw.ca> wrote:
>> > I generally agree with what you are saying John but in reality Sean is
>> correct.
>> > Skype just works.
>> >
>> > The big problem with non-Skype VoIP solutions is still the lack of a
>> global
>> > directory. I was hoping that your email address would be the VoIP UID for
>> > contacting people but that has not happened. All the infrastructure is
>> there to
>> > allow this but it is just not implemented. Once you get the PSTN part up
>> we seem
>> > to stop at that point. My impression is that almost all corporate VoIP
>> systems
>> > do not allow contact from the Internet. You have to go through a PSTN
>> gateway.
>> > Like IM if you have to know the system that a person is on before making
>> contact
>> > then it is basically broken. So far I think the PSTN and email are the
>> only
>> > systems that do not have this requirement.
>> >
>> > Skype of course is not a solution to this problem but like Facebook it
>> wins by
>> > having the most members.
>> >
>> > -- Bill
>> >
>> > On 26/05/11 09:29, John Lange wrote:
>> >> Personally I've always failed to see the appeal of skype since it's
>> >> something that could be replicated using other voip related tools with
>> >> the added benefit of being tied to a larger database of potential
>> >> users that you could reach.
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > Asterisk at muug.mb.ca
>> > http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> John Lange
>> www.johnlange.ca
>> _______________________________________________
>> Asterisk mailing list
>> Asterisk at muug.mb.ca
>> http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk
>>
>
>
>
>-- 
>Sean Walberg <sean at ertw.com>    http://ertw.com/
>
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