GigaOM

Updated: Skype, the peer-to-peer VoIP provider and a division of eBay, wants to grow up – both as a company and as a communications utility. To that end, it is launching the beta version of its latest Skype client software.
Josh Silverman, the company’s new CEO, acknowledged that from a usability standpoint, things hadn’t changed much, [...]

While the emergence of VoIP, or voice-over-Internet protocol, technology has already helped push down the cost of making a phone call, now it’s starting to have a deflationary impact on the world of mobile, where call charges remain stubbornly high. We at GigaOM are constantly tinkering with these mobile services, so we’ve put together a list of seven mobile VoIP apps that we think you’ll find handy. Continue Reading

eBay and by proxy Skype wants to do just more than IM and voice chats. And that is why they’re pushing the service, and its clients, into new directions — from telepresence to video to whatever they can think of next. (My inner skeptic says they have to keep that user base growing in order [...]

AT&T, in conjunction with some 10-15 incumbent telecom carriers, is plotting to launch a Skype competitor, according to a research report issued this morning by ThinkEquity analyst Anton Wahlman. He argues that big shifts in the telecom landscape are forcing the carriers to think along these lines: Voice has become a losing proposition, and they’re losing fixed-line customers at an alarming rate. Continue Reading

Skype has released Skype 3.8 for Windows, and it has better audio, thanks to some improvements in the audio engine. Hopefully it will translate into better call quality and fewer dropouts. The best and most useful feature of this new release: If you change your headset, headphones or microphone, there’s no need to mess around [...]

The Financial Times thinks so. The British paper quotes eBay’s CEO John Donahoe as saying the online auction firm will test Skype for “synergies” this year and if those synergies aren’t strong, reassess the division. eBay purchased Skype in 2005 with a potential payout of $4.1 billion. However, last year eBay wrote down [...]