The best place in the world of identity to be next week is Washington, DC, for IIW–East. I want to talk with people about (a) the future of personal data property laws and (b) data portability in the public sector.
Two more IIW events follow this year: IIW-Europe, October 11 in London, and IIW #11 in Mountain View, California, November 9-11. They continue our community’s conversation that leads to builds better person-centered digital identity systems.
So far I see early-bird signups from Yahoo!, AOL, Microsoft, Oracle, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, Johns Hopkins University, Gartner, Cisco, Orange, AARP, the State of Connecticut and federal agencies. What a great mix.
There’s a race to be the keeper of your online identity by many of the largest Internet companies (Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, Twitter), by financial institutions like banks and credit card, by government agencies (IIW was co-founded by Utah’s ex-CIO), and by those who provide your Internet (mobile, cable, and telephone companies). Skype is in a pretty good position to compete if it choose to.
I pitched and demoed Practisimo tonight at the end of Startup Weekend – Education at San Francisco’s Dogpatch Labs. Practisimo is a foreign language practice service. Practisimo brings native speakers to people who already know language who need to practice to keep their language skills alive. We started from scratch Saturday night, after killing our language lab product 24 hours into the project.
Joining up, speed-dating style, to form new business teams was entertaining. Getting the business design right was hard. Trusting strangers was spiritual. Decisiveness at top speed exposing your ignorance was unsettling. Keeping our collective eyes on the-very-next-thing-to-do was tiring.
Leaving Skype out of this real-time, just-in-time, find-someone-to-practice-with service was really easy .
Our requirements:
We need technology like Chatroulette’s, where we pair two users so they talk to each other.
We want to serve some users on mobile phones.
We want to serve 1-to-1 video chat and text chat inside of our web site and inside of other sites like facebook.
We don’t want to pay for bandwidth for our first million users.
Skype just couldn’t get us there.
We might have been able to use Skype network APIs, still under construction. But that’s for another year.
We thought about building it on SkypeKit, but I’ve been waiting for 125 days to even see the secret SkypeKit SDK documentation.
So we’re using other technology to help people talk to each other.
Video chat ran on the TokBox API. For the telephony part, between Twilio and Voxeo we chose Twilio; it was more familiar to one of our programmers (and Twilio co-sponsored #SWBAY). In-browser text chat used a little open sourced PHP. Forms and surveys ran on Wufoo. We cobbled a barely working, unlikely-to-scale, first-draft experience together using less than four hours of programmer time.
Today was Skype’s 7th birthday. Happy Birthday, Skype!
I wish I’d had a different story to tell. The new practice of entrepreneurship taught at #SWBAY ruthlessly focuses on doing the right things, right now, with the tools at hand, in ways that teach you what you need to move forward. Dear Skype, wish you were there.
This Sunday, 29 August 2010, will mark Skype‘s seventh birthday. This year will see Skype with more than 600 million user accounts, 14% of all international calling, Skype inside of televisions and mobile phones, and almost $1 billion in revenue. Skype was a small pioneer and now it is a power broker on the verge of an IPO.
Share your short thought on Skype’s future. Just answer any one of these questions and we’ll include them in a series in our independent Skype Journal.
Character: What kind of company would you like Skype to become?
Wishlist: What one feature or capability would you like Skype to add or change?
Society: What role could Skype play in your country? In your culture?
Competition: What should Microsoft, Google, Apple, or your phone company do? Would you join them and leave Skype?
Risks: What could put the future of Skype at risk?
Privacy: Skype is less private and secure now than on its first birthday. How much will privacy, anonymity and protection of your identity become more important to you over the next few years? To your family? To your work?
Value: Skyping is second nature to millions of people. How will it make your world better by 2018?
WHEN someone is too chatty AND you don’t want to turn off all your IM update audio alerts, TRY THIS:
In the chat with that person, type /alertsoff.
You’ll both be able to chat with each other.
You’ll both remain contacts (if you’re already contacts).
Skype will still beep for other chats, just not in this one.
Useful too: /alertson.
When you’ve turned off global alerts or set /alertsoff in a specific chat, you can /alertson a chat for specific keywords. Excellent for high volume group chats. "/alertson Arrington" or "/alertson Phil" will set pings for those phrases.
Skype told Fring that Fring was in breach of Skype’s contracts: the Public API ToS and the general Skype EULA. Look to Section 3 of the API Terms of Use (below the fold). A basic reading shows Skype was right: You can’t build what Fring built without breaking Skype’s rules.
For example, Fring uses a "Mobile Thin Client – Fat Server" design that keeps mobile clients small, flexible, and fast. The mobile software provides one user experience while the server logs into your accounts on multiple voice and IM networks. Skype’s ToS forbids a service like Fring holding your Skype login data on the server. This is a valid security concern. Other companies use the OAuth and OAuth 2 protocols to solve this problem. This lets tens of thousands of companies connect users to Google, facebook, Yahoo!, Microsoft, twitter, and others. Not Skype. So Fring is stuck between the "password anti-pattern" of storing a user’s Skype login credentials on their server and forcing a mobile Skype user to login repeatedly (annoyingly) every time they lose a Wi-Fi or wireless connection. Fring dropped Skype.
Fring dropped Skype despite investing precious manpower, cash, brand, and technology integrating their mobile service with Skype. Fring had committed themselves to helping Skype users access Skype even when Skype wouldn’t. When Skype wouldn’t offer their own thin client to US Android customers, Fring did. When Skype didn’t offer free Skype-to-Skype voice calls over wireless 3G, Fring did. When Skype didn’t offer mobile video calling on any platform except for the Nokia tablets, Fring did.
Fring bet on Skype’s stated commitment to a third-party developer ecosystem, attracted by the value of the Skype network.
Fring bet wrong.
On technical grounds, Skype wasn’t ready for a third-party to host such a massive gateway. The concentration of Skype clients coming out of one server farm threatened to overload a neighborhood of Skype’s P2P network cloud.
On security grounds, Skype wasn’t prepared to offer waive the password issue. Although Skype couldn’t/wouldn’t offer a technical alternative, Skype wasn’t prepared to trust the Fring company with Skype customer logins.
On brand integrity terms, Skype hated that Fring’s audio quality wasn’t up to their own very high PC-to-PC standards. Skype worried Fring’s video quality wasn’t comparable to Skype’s PC-to-PC video quality. That, frankly, is balderdash: Skype accepts lower quality audio for its own Skype mobile thin clients used in the Verizon Wireless and Three partnerships.
Skype had a pretty strong contractual argument, which I’ll step through below. They threatened Fring with overwhelming force ("Skype will rigorously protect our brand and reputation, and those developers that do not comply with our terms will be subject to legal enforcement") if Fring didn’t completely change its technology architecture, reallocate engineering resources, and its consumer value propositions. Fring managers told me Skype’s lawyer’s intensity rose until Fring didn’t think there was any way to negotiate. So Fring turned off their Skype gateway and removed the Skype feature from their web and mobile clients.
Here’s why this was good for Skype.
Fring proves a Skype gateway is a money-making proposition.
Skype showed it is big enough to push around even mid-sized partners.
Here’s why this was horrible for Skype.
Skype demonstrated inflexible and indelicate treatment of third-party developers. Again. Skype’s heavy hand made it look like a bully. The timing is horrible as Skype prepares to widen its SkypeKit developer program and to pave the way for Skype’s 2011 cloud communication developer program. Skype builds a counter case just when Skype should be earning developer trust and love.
This must be chilling for all the companies that operate Skype gateways. Nimbuzz and Voxeo come to mind.
Fring is not an easy partner. This small Israeli startup leads with passion, aggressively seeks opportunities, takes debates to the press, and has an operations tempo out of sync with large MBA-driven companies like Skype. Fring started this relationship without Skype’s blessing, in the spirit of the now defunct Skype Developer Program. Fring went beyond the simple architecture of Skype’s early days, enshrined in Skype’s ToS. Fring may even have had difficulty preserving Skype’s wideband audio quality.
Yet Skype could have found a better way to bring Fring into the Skype family. A memorandum of understand. A bridge ToS to last until Skype could offer Fring the SkypeKit SDK for Fring’s gateway or Skype’s own hosted gateway. A SILK license and access to in-house codec transcoding experts. Skype could have walked an encouraging path without the bitter aftertaste of intimidation and the harsh public reminder that soft skills matter.
Here’s my detailed, blunt and plain-English translation of the Skype Public API Terms of Use and how it applied to the Fring 2010 case… [I am not a lawyer.]
These Skype API Terms of Use ( "API Terms") set out the terms and conditions of use of the Skype API. If You want to use the Skype API for any purpose (including without limitation, in connection with an application or software program or for the purpose of interfacing with hardware), You must first register with Skype by completing and providing accurate contact information on the Skype Partner enquiry form available at the Skype Website (the "Registration"). By submitting Your Registration to Skype and / or using Skype API, You explicitly agree to be bound by these API Terms and any revised or renewed versions thereof, as will be published on the Skype Website or as may be otherwise notified to You by Skype. Skype reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to refuse or reject Your Registration.
In addition to the capitalised terms defined elsewhere in these API Terms, all other capitalised definitions used herein shall have the meaning given to them in the Skype End User Licence Agreement ("EULA") as published on the Skype Website at www.skype.com/intl/en/legal/eula/.
The software comes with these terms. Live with it.
You and Skype agree as follows:
1.2 This licence does not grant to You any right to any version enhancement, update, or guarantee the continuous availability of the Skype API or the Skype Software. Skype may revise, modify or cease to provide, require you to immediately cease using the Skype API, the Skype Software or its functionality or any part thereof, which may result in loss of compatibility, denial of access to the functionality of the Skype Software or the Skype network, system, Skype Website, servers, tools, information and databases, commercial activities related thereto, from time to time without notice.
You’re on your own if we break things.
3. Your right to use the Skype API under paragraph 1 above is subject further to Your compliance with the following:
3.1 Your Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable) shall in no way and to no extent whether directly or indirectly adversely affect, impede or otherwise hinder or disrupt the functionality or performance of Skype Software or products or services provided by Skype, including without limitation, that it:
This is the performance part.
(i) does not adversely impact the call quality of using Skype Software;
This is a real issue with Fring. Fring wasn’t using Skype’s SILK audio codec in their mobile client or in their media transcoding system. There was no way for them to offer Skype’s wideband audio quality.
(ii) does not adversely impact the stability of Skype;
This refers to the Skype client in particular and the Skype network in general. This wasn’t an issue since Fring had built all sorts of code to keep Skype clients running vigorously in their server farm.
(iii) does not adversely impact the behaviour of other applications using the Skype API;
Again, not a problem. Since Skype was in a server farm, no other applications but Fring’s were talking to any of the Skype clients.
(iv) does not attempt to install spyware or malware on the client computer;
Not a problem since Fring had complete control of the client computers.
(v) does not attempt to redistribute information about the use of Skype Software or Skype services without express permission of the user;
Fring’s privacy policies cover this, assuring users their activity is kept private except as required by law.
(vi) correctly identifies itself to Skype when requesting authorisation;
Refers to the way Fring’s server app talks to a Skype client in the server farm. Not a problem.
(vii) does not attempt to send messages or place calls to or communicate with other users of Skype Software unless specifically directed to do so by the user; and
Not a problem.
(viii) does not attempt to modify the Skype Software User Interface in any way.
Not a problem since users never saw the Skype user interface.
3.2 Without the prior written consent of Skype, You will not remove or hide (save as permitted in API command "set silent_mode on"), modify, take over or otherwise alter the User Interface. At all times, You will comply with the requirements and specifications relating to application design and use and presentation as stated in Paragraph 4 below.
Whoops.
This is exactly what Fring did. It offered an alternative user interface so you never saw the Skype client.
Skype might have waived this since they’ll be removing this clause for the SkypeKit API.
Skype chose not to.
3.3 Save as expressly approved in writing by Skype, You will not distribute the Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable) online through website(s) that in Skype’s opinion is/are in any way similar to, or infringe the intellectual property rights of the Skype Website or use Skype’s trademarks or words describing Skype’s products or services as the registered URL for website(s).
Means: Don’t make believe you are Skype.
Fring went to great lengths to comply. They never used the Skype logo. They created a little "SKP" badge as a stand-in logo.
3.4 You will at all times maintain the value and reputation of the Skype Software, Skype API and Skype brand or name, to the best of Your abilities.
This was in Fring’s interest.
3.5 You will not use the Skype API in any Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable) that in Skype’s opinion is actually or potentially fraudulent or inappropriate or contrary to the EULA or any other Additional Terms.
"In Skype’s opinion…" is the point. Skype can shut you down if they think you’re even "potentially" going to breach the EULA.
3.6 You will not collect any user’s personal information or data in a misleading, illegal, unauthorised or unfair way. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, You will never collect, store or record Skype password used by the users to log-in to his or her Skype account ( "Skype Password"). If users need a separate password to use Your Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable), You will either (i) automatically generate a unique password and securely communicate it to the user or (ii) not permit users to use a password that is the same as the user’s Skype Password. You agree that the services and products provided through Your Software Application or Hardware Device shall be provided by You in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation those relating to the protection of privacy and the processing of personal data or traffic data).
A few parts to this:
"You will never collect, store or record Skype password used by the users to log-in to his or her Skype account ( "Skype Password"). This goes straight to the Password Antipattern issue.
"If users need a separate password to use Your Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable), You will either (i) automatically generate a unique password and securely communicate it to the user or (ii) not permit users to use a password that is the same as the user’s Skype Password." This is problematic. Most people use the same login on multiple systems. Should Fring compel users to alter their other logins?
3.7 You will not use the Skype API to create a Software Application or Hardware Device that sends unsolicited communications (whether commercial or otherwise) to any third party.
No spam? Not a problem.
3.8 You agree that You are solely responsible for (and that Skype has no responsibility to You or to any third party for) any services and/or products You provide through Your Software Application or Hardware Device.
Fring was cool with indemnifying Skype for Fring’s products.
Cool right up to the point that Skype threatened to shut them down.
When you offer an API, is there a promise to keep the service available?
4. You hereby specifically acknowledge that Your rights to use the Skype API are strictly subject to Your full compliance with these API Terms, including the following instructions related to promotion, marketing and design of Your Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable), and any breach of any provision of these API Terms or any applicable Additional Terms shall give rise to automatic right of termination by Skype.
Skype controls how you use Skype’s trademarks and symbolmarks.
4.1 In respect of the Software Application Purpose only, You may only use the following references to Skype, Skype API and Skype Software in connection with Your Software Application:
"works with Skype Software" or "works with Skype"
"uses Skype Software" or "uses Skype"
"for Skype Software" or "for Skype"
Be clear that your product is not from Skype in your packaging, signage and tag lines.
4.2 You acknowledge that the Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable) must prominently display the following statement in the help text or about text, in the Acknowledgements in the documentation associated with Your Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable) and the packaging and other promotional material: "This product uses the Skype API but is not endorsed, certified or otherwise approved in any way by Skype" The foregoing will not apply provided the Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable) has been certified according to Skype’s Certification Program https://developer.skype.com/Certification.
And here’s fine print stick wherever you stick fine print.
4.3 The Software Application or Hardware Device (as applicable) may only use icons from Skype’s archive of application icons in reference to Skype.
Only use our approved art inside your software or on your gadget.
5. Nothing in these API Terms will give You any right to use the Skype Promotional Materials, including without limitation the Skype trademarks and logos, or make references to Skype or Skype’s products or services other than those explicitly stated in paragraph 4 above. Unauthorised references or use of Skype Promotional Materials shall be considered as material breach of these API Terms and shall result in immediate termination thereof, as well as any other applicable Additional Terms You may have entered into with Skype. Such termination shall be without limitation to Skype’s right to claim damages, seek for injunctive or other equitable relief and obtain other remedies from You.
While you can use our logos, icons and other art to promote your software, stick to that use.
6. At all times, You must constantly monitor the Skype Website to ensure You are aware of any changes in the API Terms, the EULA or any other applicable Additional Terms. In the event You cannot agree on any changes in any applicable legal document, You will immediately cease any and all use of the Skype API and, where applicable, any and all use of the Skype Software.
Monitor this document. If you won’t bind yourself to our product, sod off and stop using Skype’s APIs.
7. You represent and warrant that You are authorised to agree to and meet with the terms and conditions of the API Terms
If you’re using Skype, you’re authorized by your organization to bind the organization.
8. You acknowledge and agree that Your use of the Skype API will be at Your own risk and account. You agree, on demand, to indemnify, defend and hold Skype, its Affiliates and staff harmless from and against any and all liability and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred by such person, in connection with or arising out of (a) Your use of the Skype API or (b) any breach or violation of the terms and conditions of these API Terms and any other applicable Additional Terms and (c) the provision by You of any Software Application or Hardware Device You develop using the Skype API.
If you mess with us, you’ll pay us for our enforcement costs.
9. Skype reserves the right to modify these API Terms at any time, on a general or individual basis, by publishing the revised API Terms on the Skype Website or by otherwise notifying You of the revised API Terms. Any eventual modification of the API Terms that establishes Skype’s right to charge royalties is subject to a three (3) months’ prior notice thereof. Your continued use of the Skype API shall constitute Your acceptance to be bound by the terms and conditions of the revised API Terms.
If Skype decides to charge for using the API, Skype will give three months’ notice.
10. In the event that You wish to use the Skype API in a manner other than as expressly set out in these API Terms such use is expressly prohibited unless and until Skype enters into a specific licence with You.
Don’t start using Skype before you cut a deal for a separate license.
12.2 You may terminate these API Terms with immediate effect at any time. Without limiting other remedies, Skype may limit, suspend or terminate these API Terms (the EULA and any other Additional Terms) and Your use of the Skype API at any time if we think that You are in breach of these API Terms or if we think that You have acted in a way which shows that you do not intend to comply with these API Terms. In addition, Skype may terminate these API Terms with immediate effect at any time, for any reason, including but not limited to, if You engage in any action that in Skype’s opinion devalues Skype’s brand or reputation or the Skype Software or Skype API.
If you don’t like it, leave.
If we feel like it, we will kick you off or throw lawyers at you.
12.3 Upon termination of these API Terms by You or by Skype for any reason: (a) all licenses and rights to use the Skype API shall immediately terminate and (b) You will immediately cease any and all use of the Skype API.
ooVoo’s telephone conversation quality (two way dialog; full duplex and latency) was a little better than its telephone sound quality (facilitator reads a paragraph).
We don’t know if the testers experienced Skype’s SILKcodec, which usually improves audio quality. The tests were performed in December 2009 and January 2010 so they probably used Skype for Windows 4.1; Skype 5 Beta is the latest version.
Video chat conversational quality: 68 percent prefer ooVoo
You might be able to flip that with proper hardware. The test was run on older dual core, Windows XP machines with old Logitech Quickcam Communicate webcams. A modern HD webcam like those from ISS or Logitech, will both improve video image capture and improve frame rates, since less image processing is done by the PC. It’s highly unlikely the Skype users experienced a Skype High Quality (640×480@30fps) video call let alone a higher definition HD call.
ooVoo pipes all audio and video through their servers, unlike Skype.
Overall: 84 percent prefer ooVoo over Skype.
Well, they preferred ooVoo audio and video quality. User experience (giving users tasks to complete, like make a call or hang up or find a friend) was not tested to keep it a blind study.
Could the methodology have been improved?
Double blind techniques can help remove non-verbal researcher influence. Double blind keeps people who contact test subjects from knowing which screen belongs to which product.
Test with 1-to-1 calls instead of in groups of ten. Avoid non-verbal groupthink and biases.
Test with higher quality webcams (HD), audio (high end speakers and headphones), anechoic chambers (to eliminate outside noises).
Test where locations create greater latency for ooVoo with both end-points far from ooVoo’s servers.
Test where responses allowed for more than choose A or B. As in “I like this a little more, a lot more, I can’t tell the difference,” etc. This test may have said 84% prefer ooVoo over Skype, but it doesn’t say by how much.
It would have been lovely if ooVoo released more technical data about their hardware, their firewalls, and their network connections. We know ooVoo and Skype perform differently with more/less bandwidth, noisier/cleaner connections, more/less software running on the computer, more/fewer CPU cores, more/less computer memory.
It would have been meaningful if ooVoo released demographic data about the test subjects beyond New York City Skype users. Perhaps Bronx Skype users felt differently than Queens or Long Island Skype users?
Next time try the test with ooVoo and non-VoIM users too, if only as controls.
ooVoo is a small outfit who bought the study for marketing purposes. This isn’t especially newsworthy. PC-to-PC audio and video quality are all in the same neighborhood. What’s new is someone bothered to compare. Let’s hope for more (and deeper) studies.
Ready to pitch your startup to the VoIP industry?StartupCamp 2 is on for 4 October in Los Angeles. Pitch your pitch here. Use your five-minutes well, demoing to a crowd of investors, industry media, telecommunications experts, and prospects. StartupCamp is part of TMC‘s tenth Internet Telephony Expo Conference and Exhibition. Presenters will get PR as part of the conference and table space in the StartupCamp booth to talk with more than 5000 IT Expo attendees.
Ad Age reports more on Skype click-to-call advertising. "Clicks are good. Calls are the prize" is a Marchex advertising network tag line. Skype’s browser toolbars for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox always turned phone numbers into links that launch Skype calls. With Skype’s Marchex partnership, advertisers can sponsor some of those links and place a message to encourage calling.
Marchex is selling Skype links on web pages owned by Yelp, Yahoo! Google and anyplace else your browser detects phone numbers. The only way for Marchex to know if a link in your browser is sponsored is for your toolbar to send the link to Marchex.
Marchex pitches "Call Advertising."
Advertisers, weary of increasing search and online lead prices, are reconsidering calls as a lead form.
Mobile search will provide advertisers a new, efficient channel for driving calls.
Opportunities to drive calls via online and mobile directories will multiply.
Paid directory assistance will transition to ad-supported and drive calls to advertisers.
PC-based call providers will launch massive, ad-supported models to boost adoption.
"Skype has quietly become one of the largest providers of calls in the world. The company currently has over 500 million registered users and is growing at approximately 40% year-over-year. Skype does this largely on the strength of peer-to-peer calls, supporting both voice and video. However, Skype users do not make PC-based calls to businesses as frequently, largely because Skype charges an incremental rate for calls to non-Skype phone numbers.
Determined to find ways to grow its share of these calls, Skype will seek ways to reduce or eliminate the cost to Skype users.
This move will undoubtedly give rise to another wave of opportunities for advertisers to drive calls with media dollars. By underwriting calls on the user’s behalf, advertisers will be able to unlock very efficient modes of communication with prospective customers. Over time, advertisers will likely discover the power of PC-based calls that give them the opportunity to leverage online assets to supplement the call with visual experiences like product demonstrations, technical explanations, or application processes.
This same phenomenon will extend over time into mobile and smartphones."
Phone numbers will re-emerge in online ad copy due to pressure from local advertisers.
Carriers will continue their transition to ad-supported models.
As calls become more central to the marketing mix, contact "lists" will emerge.
Questions Skype has been unwilling to answer since the launch.
User privacy and experience:
Is there a user preference to disable adverts without turning off the other toolbar features?
What browsing data is passed to the ad network? What are the privacy options for this data? Can I inspect the data sent to the ad network?
What calling data is passed to the ad network and the advertiser? Privacy options? Can I see the data?
How much of a speed/performance hit will the browser experience whilst the toolbar checks phone numbers with Marchex? Does this slow a page’s rendering or will the Skype link+sponsorship icon appear only after the page is rendered?
Advertiser and publisher concerns:
I’m sure you’ve tested this type of advertising. How effective has this been? Compared to linkification without the "Free call" message and blue color?
Do you remember calling behavior? How do you use that data to improve ad targeting?
Out of the millions of downloaded Skype toolbars, how many are active? How many have linkification turned on?
What can web designers do to make it easier for the toolbar to recognized and properly encode phone numbers?
Can an advertiser block "dial for free" links on certain web pages or sites while buying them on others?
Can an advertiser restrict ads to certain times-of-day to assure customer service levels?
Can an advertiser restrict ads based on the language of a web page?
Can an advertiser restrict ads if the call tariff is too high, say from an island where the call rate is more than $1 per minute?
Can a sponsored link drive the caller to a direct Skype-to-Skype call when the advertiser has a Skype for SIP or Skype for Asterisk enabled call center or another company Skype account?
Are site operators (Google, Yahoo!, Yelp, etc.) compensated for ads layered over their sites by the toolbar?
Can an advertiser place offers ("25% off if you call in the next five minutes") near their phone number?
In what countries and for what markets will click and call advertising be available?
Which kinds of advertisers will not be allowed to purchase these ad units? Adult? Political? Gambling?
What are the technical requirements for this service? Specific browsers, operating systems, etc.? Which Skype toolbars?
Can I build Skype-Marchex linkification into my company’s toolbar or site app? What is your developer program?
Here’s the video commercial, aimed at advertisers.
What will Skype offer independent developers in late-2010?
Developers are shopping for features that enhance their products/services. Skype’s top five developer features:
Talk Power. Skype is so successful because people love to talk with each other. Skype lets you build conversation into your application. Skype’s modes let you pick from degrees of latency and intimacy, from texting to video conferencing. Add the best quality IM, voice calling and conferencing, video calling and conferencing, SMS, and calling to/from regular phone numbers. Skype can increase the time people spend with your product, the intensity of the time they spend, and the virality you only get when people talk with their friends, colleagues, family and people they want to meet.
Safer Talk. Parts of Skype’s network use some of the world’s best encryption. You can transfer files, IM and hold calls without eavesdropping. Skype’s network is highly resistant to spam and malware attacks.
Scalable Talk. Let Skype host your talk features in our network. No need for you to take up server space or even generic cloud computing resources. Skype’s network serves billions of minutes of video and audio calls every year. Build on our capacity, quality and uptime.
Bringing Skype Users to You. Skype.com draws millions of visitors monthly and Skype will help our customers find you through our new gallery. Qualified products can also be Skype Certified and show a Skype logo in your merchandising, packaging, and online promotions.
Talk Pays. Registered developers can receive commissions from Skype. Skype will pay as your customers buy Skype credits, Skype subscriptions and as new customers sign up with Skype for the first time. Skype also sells a few products in its Skype.com stores.
Let’s call them the Just Add Talk features.
What Just Add Talk products can Skype deliver now or soon?
The Skype Public API lets you write desktop apps that talk to the full Skype client. Most but not all features are supported. Around for years.
The SkypeKit APIs let your write embedded and desktop apps that talk to a Skype engine. You build the UI. You’ve seen early versions where Skype apps were built for Panasonic, Samsung and LG televisions. Private Beta testing started in 2010q2 but the code is still being worked out. Think early 2011 for full release.
Skype for Asterisk treats Skype like an Asterisk channel. When you use Asterisk in your telephone switch, you can add “telephone lines” that work with Skype so anyone can Skype in to your main phone system and you can Skype out at Skype’s global calling rates. Skype will probably replace Skype for Asterisk with SkypeKit with an Asterisk channel wrapper.
The Skype Network APIs are rumored. A hosted Skype cloud your web service can call; no heavy Skype clients or downloads. You could build Skype features into your web site or mobile app.
Skype has four broad capabilities it may offer developers in the future:
Skype as a Service. “Have your app talk to Skype’s cloud.” The Skype Network APIs are being designed at this level. If I want to build Skype presence into a web site, an app on my site can invoke the Skype network to show when customer service is online.
Skype as a Platform. “Run your app on Skype.” This is where Skype actually hosts third-party Skype apps, offering developers easier management, greater scalability, lower latency, and higher performance. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft offer this now for generic computing; Skype could offer it for communications applications.
Skype as Infrastructure. “Pipe your media through Skype.” Skype can offer secure, scalable realtime content distribution. It could be phone calls, movies, or immersive video game experiences. Why fight firewalls when Skype’s network has already solved that problem?
Skype as an Identity Provider. “Log in with Skype.” Digital identity is a major obstacle for ecommerce. Large companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and even smaller ones like Twitter share their sophisticated login and authentication services with millions of web sites. Well known brands share their trust with smaller ones, and customers benefit from having fewer places to manage passwords and identity.
Skype’s value proposition doesn’t end with code.
Developers want generic capabilities. Communication that’s fast, direct, frequent, and trusted. Ongoing improvement that doesn’t break prior work. Attention to security and privacy. Ease of design, construction, test and deployment using familiar tools. Prior art and shared code. Licenses. Learning. Thriving community.
Just Add Talk’s emotional identity is as important as the rest of Skype’s developer program. Is Skype’s developer program warm, human, approachable and likeable or is Skype a cold, closed, borg-like, bureaucratic stone wall? Does Skype listen well to developers or does Skype just talk? How much do others trust Skype? Does Skype put its developers’ long term interests ahead of Skype’s short term interests? Does the Skype developer program promise hope, opportunity, excitement, fellowship and peak experiences? Messaging, and the everyday behavior of the Platform team, contribute to how Skype’s developer program will be perceived and judged.
As you look to its coming IPO, would an ecosystem fostered by a developer program like this make you more or less likely to invest in Skype?
Home Wi-Fi Gateways. I want a copy of Skype running just outside my firewall that’s eligible to become a supernode or relay. This should help me (and my neighbors) have better Skype p2p connectivity.
External disk drives. The better to transfer files securely, if you please.
TiVos and other DVRs. Not all televisions are "Internet ready" but DVRs are. We’ll Skype from the sofa until we lose the remote in the cushions.
Motorcycle helmets. Audio only, for now, with speech-driven commands. Wind-in-my-hair noise cancellation, please, as I chase the ninjas.
Computer printers. I want my printers to set their status in Skype presence, and to IM me when a job’s status is complete. Glad to transfer a file through Skype for printing.
Copiers. See printers.
Facility security systems. Breaches trigger Skype conference calls. Authorized accounts may Skype in to see surveillance feeds.
Home network control systems. Skype from the consoles that manage your thermostat, water your lawn, and dim the lights.
Linux slates. A gestural or handwriting version of Skype built into those iPad wannabees.
Musical instruments. Pipe your guitar or keyboard’s microphone pickups and midi into a Skype conference call. Play your teacher’s or bandmates’ voice and music through your sound system.
Electricity meters. Help me live/work green: IM me when my use falls outside of my desired consumption profile.
Augmented Reality eyeware. A hands-free interface, the better to walk and talk.
Cochlear implants. Forget headphones, build the microphones and speakers right into my ear.
Speakerphones. PC-free speakerphones that connect you directly to Skype calls.
POS terminals. Bring customer service right to the point of sale.
Nimbuzz blends several IM, status, and voice calling services into one mobile user interface, Skype included. Fring, a similar service, shut down its Skype features in July. I had a chance to discuss how people really talk, Nimbuzz’s experience and hopes for Skype, and the future of communication with Tobias Kemper (@tek). Mr. Kemper is General Manager of Nimbuzz Inc. USA.
Skype Journal: What have you’ve learned since launch about how people use Nimbuzz and talk with each other? What behaviors are changing or emerging?
Tobias Kemper: What we have learned since launching Nimbuzz is that consumers use the product for a variety of different reasons which are also dependent on their geographic region.
In developing markets, consumers are looking for cost saving communications more than those in developed markets. Consumers love the fact that they can make free and low cost calls over Nimbuzz.
We also have seen that consumers utilize the chatroom feature on our Symbian and Java platforms as a way to meet and connect with each other. Those markets do not have well-established social networks or this maybe their first Internet experience, on the mobile. They use Nimbuzz and our chatroom service to create their own mini social networks from their mobile phones.
In developed markets, consumers love the fact that they have all their friends from all popular IM and social networks in one place and they can see who is online, when and where. In the end, this is about freedom to control how consumers communicate free of what the operator dictates in terms of minutes and messaging. Having all your social networks – Facebook, AIM, MSN, and Skype — in one app is a great advantage to consumers. It’s their choice, not the operators.
Skype Journal: Can you tell us about the technical architecture you’ve built to interop with Skype?
Tobias Kemper: Because Nimbuzz uses all of the public connection points for Skype, our relationship with Skype hasn’t changed. We continue to invest in our technology to provide the best quality when making Skype calls over Nimbuzz to match our user’s expectations.
Mangrove Capital, the original investors in Skype, are also investors in Nimbuzz. This backing has been advantageous for Nimbuzz because they bring extensive expertise to our VoIP play.
Skype Journal: Your wishlist for improvements on Skype’s side of the service?
Tobias Kemper: We are looking forward to the official SDK to further enhance this user experience. It is in our best interest to make sure the consumer always gets the best quality and the Skype brand is presented in the best possible way. The fact that Nimbuzz works on more than 2000 types of mobile phones effectively brings Skype into a very large community of users worldwide.
Nimbuzz is all about doing more mobile – chat more, reach more, connect to more, share more, message more, call more — all mobile. Universal communications via your mobile. Because we believe in openness, we built our platform on XMPP and JINGLE protocols making it very easy to interoperate.
For example, in Saudi Arabia, since the announcement of the Blackberry communications ban, we are seeing extreme user growth and we have already captured 20% of the entire BB user base there. Every two seconds a user from Saudi Arabia logs on to Nimbuzz; as of today, growth has increased from 20 registrations per day from Saudi Arabia to 35,000 per day on Thursday because of the bans and impending bans on BlackBerry services.
Skype Journal: In your blog post Mobile communication in 2010 and beyond! you write: "Nimbuzz believes in a global mobile community across all platforms, communities, devices and operators that gives users the ability to choose how they communicate. Calls will be free. Revenue will be generated from enriched mobile communications for all industry players, including users and operators." If Skype-like features will be free, what sort of premium conversation enrichments might we see over the next few years?
Tobias Kemper: This is how we envision premium features: Assume that in the future calling and texting will be completely free. The money will be made in the consumer lock-in and selling people a fully unified communication service with personalization and customization options. Expression tools – nudges and emoticons (already wildly popular in Asia) will be a huge part of this equation. Status is equal to social connectivity. Consumers want to be in control of the way they communicate and want to be able to monitor their communications. A Facebook message has a different meaning than a text message. An email an different meaning than a chat message, and a call a different purpose to a voice message.
People want to enjoy presence or socializing features wherever they are — presence and location information will be part of the same solution in the future. I certainly would pay extra if my phonebook was powered with presence information so I would know if someone is online so I can send a chat first instead on blindly calling them. Yes, it is nice if the call is for free, but since it is over the internet, I expect it to be free.
However, what I love is the presence. I am happy to pay for that, or pay for the upgrade option to enjoy free communications to everyone else on this operator network – but I want that to come straight from MY address book. Nimbuzz believes that the true long game for mobile communications will come from all the pieces that consumers use daily — not just mobile voice or chat – but all those pieces tied together. The value lies in a user’s address book that combines calling (VoIP and mVoIP), messaging, connecting and socializing – all in one service.
Bottom line? We want to give users the freedom to communicate from their mobile to anyone in the world, on any network, in any social community, on any device, at any time, the way they want to. This doesn’t have to be overly complicated, shooting social media feeds and multimedia content in your address book, but simply allow you to do more, and be more, mobile.
You’d think there would be a strong need to build collaboration tools into the app. So about 2001 he did. IM, document/view sharing, voice chat, etc.
Five years later he ripped it out. Customers didn’t want it. The nuts and bolts of design is solitary, hands-on, heads-down work. All the conversations were taking place outside of the design tool between hands-on moments.
Alibre’s customers were using IM, conferencing, and desktop sharing tools from many sources. Tool choice was dictated by their social network; who in their network used Yahoo, MSN, Skype or an enterprise product for IM. WebEx or others for screen sharing. Skype or one of the toll-free conferencing platforms for voice. SharePoint, Zoho Office, and many other services for document sharing. Tungle, Doodle, Timebridge, Google Calendar, and others for meeting scheduling. DropBox, Box.net, Gmail, or Skype for large file transfer. I won’t even try to list task list, project planning, and progress tracking systems.
Meanwhile, 3D design had become part of Do-It-Yourself manufacturing. Designers were now talking with a more people, in more companies, in more countries. The range of tools continues to explode.
Paul determined it was better to leave communication, coordination and collaboration outside of the design app. Better for the company to invest scarce development funds on core capabilities.
There’s no need for Paul to embed SkypeKit. Skype serves his customers better as one of zillions of tools they can choose outside of the design system.
More talk within the DIY Manufacturing value network is great for Skype as a network.
Less than great for SkypeKit as an embedded solution.
SkypeKit’s features may fit an Alibre perfectly.
Features are not enough.
Three obstacles, inherent in Skype’s offering, stand in the way:
A user must have a Skype name. Registration creates a conversion barrier and a huge complication for the software publisher.
A user can only contact Skype users. SkypeKit’s value is limited to talking only within a large but far-from-universal pool of Skypers.
A user, having paid for the SkypeKit features along with the rest of the product, must pay again for an outside suite when even one of their colleagues doesn’t use Skype. When comparing two products, one with Skype and one without, the SkypeKit’d product can look bloated and distracted from its central value proposition.
Skype has a few strategies for improving its chances.
Allow SkypeKit publishers to create private Skype namespaces. A Skype name that looks like AlibreInc123456789, a unique publisher code and a string.
Let publishers map those names to their proprietary namespace or to third-party namespaces. So your Alibre ID and your Skype ID are linked, and you can be found in both networks using either ID. Skype lets you map your MySpaceIM ID to your Skype ID, but only for that one network.
Permit developers to store user logins; many applications would work better if there was no need for any mention of Skype and no added step to log in each time you want to be connected to your peers.
Enable interop through gateways. This could be offered as a centralized service, connecting SkypeKit-powered apps to thousands of independent identity, calling, metawork, and collaboration networks.
Be Everything To Everyone is a losing approach. Skype believes this; you can see it in Skype’s focused product discipline and in its investment in developer products.
That same focus by independent software publishers means Skype must offer value beyond its features. 600+ million user accounts will draw some. Denying choice through interoperability and freezing developer freedom to design other social models are potent barriers to developer adoption.
Maximedia put out this brochure for their seminars last month. Put together by advertising agency Moma Propaganda, Sao Paulo, Brazil, with creative director Rodolfo Sampaio, art director Marco Martins, copywriter Adriano Matos, and illustrator 6B Studio.
They capture the retro feel of the 1930s and ’40s. CRTs for screens, bulky headphones, extension cords for the headset, and hardware as furniture. Notice the controls with three buttons? Simple. Clearly you’d call an operator to make your connection.
Best of all they capture two conversations. Mother and child with housewife and dog, personal within a small social network. And the salesman pitching Skype right out of your screen.
Don’t use the content of my bits to treat my bits differently than anyone else’s bits. That’s the general thrust of network neutrality. Common carriage, that the companies moving my phone call or video call or email shouldn’t know or care about who I’m speaking with or what we’re saying.
Net neutrality came up as Internet service providers struggled to do more than move data. They blocked Skype, throttled movie downloads, filtered out websites. They decided it was their right to choose on behalf of their customers since they owned access points to the Internet.
Skype and other Internet companies that suffer from bad carrier behavior supported net neutrality for a long time. Skype’s chief D.C. advocate, Chris Libertelli, recently shot the FCC a note: “The issue of Network Neutrality protections for Skype users has been pending for too long. Skype supports quick action by the FCC and today’s vote. Moving forward with a solid legal foundation is critical to promoting investment and consumer choice throughout the Internet ecosystem."
I bring this up because Skype soft-launched SkypeKit last month. SkypeKit lets programmers build Skype inside desktop software and in hardware. Like Apple‘s app store, Skype limits what you can build based on the content of your app: no adult content, no gambling.
Skype claims this right because your SkypeKit app will use some of Skype’s resources. Copies of your app will log in to Skype’s servers and move data through them. SkypeKit-based apps use proprietary Skype intellectual property, like Skype-built communication protocols, codecs, and encryption. Their turf, at least in part, so their rules.
Skype reserves the right to compel you to withdraw your published product from the market if they decide, at their own convenience, that your app violates their content sensibilities. Should they have this power?
Just as the power companies can’t dictate what kinds of purposes people use electricity for, the providers of basic general-purpose communications transport shouldn’t be able to dictate how we communicate. – Susan Crawford, August 14, 2008
Professor Crawford wrote that about network neutrality. Her point seems to apply here. Infrastructure shouldn’t dictate the content of solutions built upon it. Public roads what models of car you can drive. Cars where you can go. Application platforms what you can run.
Should Skype, arguably a phone company and offering a telecommunications platform, have the right in law to discriminate based on the content of your conversation? How about other cloud telephony and cloud platform providers, like Voxeo, Google, and Amazon? We know they have the technical power to enforce their view. Should those powers be supported in law and regulation too?
"Common carriage was applied to freight or carriage companies and inland and ocean water carriers. By common law, common carriers were 1) required to serve upon reasonable demand, any and all who sought out their services; 2) held to a high standard of care for the property entrusted to them; and 3) limited to incidental damages for breach of duty." — Eli M. Noam, Beyond Liberalization II: The Impending Doom of Common Carriage, 18 Telecomm. Pol’y 435. Sec. II (1994). via Cybertelecom
Serve everyone.
How is carrying our voice bits different than executing our application bits?
Should Apple be compelled to let all apps run on iOS? Should Amazon be indifferent about the apps that run in its cloud so long as they behave non-destructively within technical guidelines?
Should the Carterphone principle (attach any phone to a network so long as it doesn’t harm the network) apply to all APIs by default? Attach any app or service so long as it doesn’t harm network operations?
Should this apply to all platforms? Apple and Amazon are big, successful, market leaders with their platforms. How about a small CAD company without power in a crowded market? Should we consider the long tail of API providers to be common carriers?
How about platforms that are in early testing, where the hosting company is not ready to make a public commitment to the APIs or to the platform? Skype’s SkypeKit platform is in an early closed beta and its APIs are still in flux. Should we exempt early-stage platforms from discriminating on the content of our software?
If software publishing is protected speech,
By whose authority?
Being privately owned isn’t a free pass. Skype answers to its board of directors, not to the public. Then again, so does AT&T. The public doesn’t get to say that my dating site is "adult" except through public discussion. Why should AT&T at the carrier layer or Skype at the application layer?
What constitutes a public interest worthy of taking some authority away from those hosting a platform? Free speech, consumer choice, freedom to assemble (online), access to work (online and off), access to government services and ePolitics? What regulator would have the authority to impose open access? What laws cover this now?
Lots of questions.
One last one.
Should Apple and Skype, both of whom are dictating content on their network, lose exemption from DMCA Safe Harbor provisions? Does restricting some content make them liable for the content they approve?
No more questions.
Courts around the world told Microsoft they had to play fair in the Windows browser wars. Let’s debate application neutrality for our new platforms.
