Comments on: One Day VOIP Calls Will be Free, says eBay http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/one-day-voip-calls-will-be-free-says-ebay/ Upgrade Your Lifestyle Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:06:03 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Geoff Duncan http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/one-day-voip-calls-will-be-free-says-ebay/#comment-51920 Geoff Duncan Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:51:15 +0000 #comment-51920 Speak with the Journalist Objectivity switch in the OFF position for a moment, what I found interesting about Whitman's statements was that they seem to reveal eBay was not, in fact, utterly off its rocker when it purchased Skype. The standard wisdom was that Skype was due to implode under its own user base, and, after said implosion, would be acquired for pennies on the dollar for its core technology rather than its user network. eBay, conversely, is essentially saying: no no, the user base is one of the big reasons to buy Skype. Looked at from one persepective, eBay is essentially the only successful social networking operation out there: it's all about putting the right people together with each other at the right time. So they understand the value of a user community, and that cheap, appealing, best-of-class (free) communication within that community is absolutely crucial to its survival.<br /> <br /> Anyway - the revenue model seems to be add-on services (potentially Skype-In and Skype-Out equivalents, along with commercial content, voicemail and other POTS features, audio streaming, etc., plus advertising, and that's where the economies of scale involved with an enormous user base pay off. Speak with the Journalist Objectivity switch in the OFF position for a moment, what I found interesting about Whitman's statements was that they seem to reveal eBay was not, in fact, utterly off its rocker when it purchased Skype. The standard wisdom was that Skype was due to implode under its own user base, and, after said implosion, would be acquired for pennies on the dollar for its core technology rather than its user network. eBay, conversely, is essentially saying: no no, the user base is one of the big reasons to buy Skype. Looked at from one persepective, eBay is essentially the only successful social networking operation out there: it's all about putting the right people together with each other at the right time. So they understand the value of a user community, and that cheap, appealing, best-of-class (free) communication within that community is absolutely crucial to its survival.

Anyway – the revenue model seems to be add-on services (potentially Skype-In and Skype-Out equivalents, along with commercial content, voicemail and other POTS features, audio streaming, etc., plus advertising, and that's where the economies of scale involved with an enormous user base pay off.

]]> By: Ian Bell http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/one-day-voip-calls-will-be-free-says-ebay/#comment-51919 Ian Bell Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:50:11 +0000 #comment-51919 This isn't to be unexpected. As with any software on the web, once competition factors in, these things are basically handed out for free, built-in to IM software, etc. <br /> <br /> But maybe I am missing something here. Why would eBay buy Skype and then turn around and say VoIP will be free in the future? What is the hidden revenue model here? This isn't to be unexpected. As with any software on the web, once competition factors in, these things are basically handed out for free, built-in to IM software, etc.

But maybe I am missing something here. Why would eBay buy Skype and then turn around and say VoIP will be free in the future? What is the hidden revenue model here?

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