Comments on: Skype losing its voice?

By: Buzz

Buzz — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 07:29:04 +0000

Skype needs to pay more attention to its business users. These are the people willing to pay good money for a good VoIP service and usually have the bandwidth to make calls crystal clear.

Unfortunately Skype does not offer Grandstream-like IVR functions, the Skype for Business program is all about buying SkypeOut minutes and not offering real benefits. Also, the interface is getting so bloated that you almost feel embarrassed to open Skype at a meeting (some customers might raise their eyebrows when seeing the way too playful Skype extra's icons).

By: Bill baggett

Bill baggett — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:58:07 +0000

I use Skype in and out for my home phone. It is the greatest. I do Skype in and out by the year. Fantastic price for a great product. Have a cell phone just for emergencies and use it for 911 services. I would and do recomend it to anyone.

By: tivoboy

tivoboy — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:54:11 +0000

So, skype is making more money per user now, especially on the skypeout side due to fees per call, and the flat rate fees.

So, even though there was similar skypeout minutes, they probably were able to BOOK more revenue per month/quarter as a ratable portion of the annual fees. Their Monthly recurring revenue is going to look better with Quarterly and Annual contracts.

And, the per minute charges per call to International destinations DID go up, so revenues will rise on same volume of minutes.

Hardware could also be a portion, but that would have been called out and I don't think skype actually SELLS any hardware. It is actually a pass through to the vendor, no?

By: tim

tim — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:06:06 +0000

90 million revenue does not sound like much when you figure they are paying PSTN termination fees for their revenue generating calls.

By: showngo

showngo — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:52:42 +0000

Skype could be great, they just need to keep pushing it to the main stream. I use Skype very little these days, but I still have a SkypeIn number that I consider to be my home telephone number.

I keep looking for better integration across the web. How about some click to dial features with CRM programs and computer address books?

By: jlewin

jlewin — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:12:47 +0000

Oops!

Talk about giving vaporgear vendor Ooma an informercial and then turning around and trashing a direct competitor.

This sort of thing will trash your credibility if you're not careful....

By: sunrocket_as_lesson

sunrocket_as_lesson — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:59:31 +0000

We look to sunrocket as a lesson, probably the reason why more customers have not signed up with skype is that the long-term viability outlook is not good in this LOW priced model. Cearly, customers DO NOT want to invest in hardware, establishing a phone number only in 1-3 years’ time worry about not being able to port the number to another provider if the service should IMPLODE… This is why many customers feel that if they move to a higher priced voip service they will remain viable.. but not all of these companies provide good service or are under their own death-watch of sorts(vonage being sued by Verizon namely)

By: Memphis PC Guy

Memphis PC Guy — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:24:05 +0000

Hey, they said the same thing about Enron at some point! err…

By: Raymond Padilla

Raymond Padilla — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:28:15 +0000

I'm mostly happy with my Skype experience. I paid for that flat-fee promotion in December for unlimited calls to US and Canada. I've been totally happy with the sound quality.

I also use it as my backup for calls to friends and family in Asia. VoipDiscount is my first option and Y! Voice is my second. They are both considerably cheaper than Skype, but the call quality isn't quite as good or consistent in my experience.

I'm curious to see what Ooma's international long-distance pricing will be.

By: tesstrenny@msn.com

tesstrenny@msn.com — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:43:21 +0000

What sort of "profit" does Skype generate. EBITDA? Operating profit. Or real profit? EBay is hidng the ball.

$30 million a month revenue run rate- 22o million registered users- ARPU is TINY. Less than 14 cents.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:18:37 +0000

i totally agree – love the product, but don’t pay in-out call prices. i think they need to simplify the client a bit. it has too much crud built into it, and consumes too many cycles.

By: MeTheGeek

MeTheGeek — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:07:38 +0000

Skype is still the best VoIP application around, but they are missing a vital part of their business; the sysadmins.

By: Gopi

Gopi — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:36:34 +0000

The real money will be made when they succesfully push a search toolbar (stumbleupon?) to the install base…With a average $20 per user search revenue they can easily make close to 4 billion/yr with 70-80% gross margin!.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:29:04 +0000

Agreed that Skype appears to have stagnated.

Revenue improvement may come from increased prices (Skype In has gone up around 50%, if I remember correctly), which makes me wonder if eBay understands that they can't treat Skype customers like they treat eBay customers: If you put a phone number on your business card you are tied to its provider. If Skype jacks prices around, or doesn't improve their product steadily, fewer people will trust them enough to buy the revenue-generating premium services.

By: Kevin Kelleher

Kevin Kelleher — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:33:06 +0000

I think franky's got it right, especially on SkypePro.

One can be disappointed in Skype's ability to drive revenue and still be a fan of the Skype service. The problem with VoIP is one that's hurting a lot of new online business models - how do you make money from free?

By: jccodez

jccodez — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:13:54 +0000

love skype, use it all the time to keep contact with the global projects…it is awesome.