[*] Fallout of Skype purchase from Microsoft

[Sean Walberg]

I'll buy that. This is an $8B advertising play.

Sean

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:55 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso at athompso.net>wrote:

> 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.
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Asterisk mailing list
> >> > 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/
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >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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