Skype Developers Conference 2007
Under the umbrella of the annual eBay Developers Conference is a Skype Developers Conference in Boston June 11-13. Under the Consultants and Integrators Track are listed four key Skype management speakers associated with the Skype Developer Program:
Skype: A global opportunity
Paul Amery
Skype has over 171 196 million registered users from all 4 corners of the globe. As a developer Skype can provide you with the tools to build your application, and help you market your application to the users. This session presents to you the global opportunity available to developers.Skype Development Techniques and Tools
Peter Kalmstrom
Skype is offering a range of different tools and techniques for developers. Controlling the Skype client via the API, showing presence on the web or building a Skype extra. All will be covered!Skype Extras: Concept to Cash
Lester Madden
If you’re a developer looking to build applications for Skype’s global market place then this session is for you. In this session you will learn all you need to know about building and deploying Skype extras with the publishing studio.Skype Public APIs and Developer Services
Peeter Motskula
With more than 196 million registered users worldwide, a number of public APIs, the Extras distribution framework, and developer services ranging from technical support to software certification, Skype is a great platform for software developers. In this session, Peeter Motskula gives a high-level overview of the APIs and services offered. Questions and ideas welcome.
More conference information here; registration here. And Andy has the speaker schedule here.
Caveat: Skype has 196 million registered accounts; this includes dead accounts, users with multiple accounts and other registrations that should be revisited to ensure currency of use. It's well know in direct mail advertising and telemarketing that a user base has significant changes over time. At this time perhaps the most accurate indicator of size and usage trends is that Skype currently peaks at over 9.5 million users online early in the North American business day. Even this number represents a significant market size opportunity for (prospective) Skype Developer Partners.
Powered by Qumana
Comments
The big story is Skype cut back a lot from the 2006 eBay DevCon. Last year they had more sessions, more hands-on, and more in-house developers on site. The eBay developer conference isn't designed for existing Skype developers and the eBay/PayPal developers are only marginally interested in Skype integration.
Skype's executive team won't keynote at the DevCon or eBay Live: they don't have the "wealth manifesto" stories demanded by those audiences. This year.
Here's hoping for a Skypapalooza! A full, smart, multi-day, openspace, mashpit hackfest SkypeCamp for outside Skype developers sometime this year. It needn't be big, but it should demonstrate wholehearted commitment, missing from the eBay 2007 DevCon program.
See also: Skype Recruiting Developers around the World, 25 April 2007, Skype Journal.
Posted by: Phil Wolff | May 4, 2007 11:08 AM
it's hilarious. who will resell those applications, who will support those applications (their customers) that are attached to skype. what is in it for "resellers". who will walk into a company and say "hey look at this great plugin, made by some guys somewhere at the other end of the world" and push this type of software inside... without getting any revenue from it. i don't see the revenue model here (except for skype then). since skype has no global salesforce bringing skype into business layers, certain of these "business proposals" are doomed to fail. if skype keeps undercutting those who put skype into businesses then the middleman won't do anything, except for maybe selling some p2p throtthling boxes so we can keep the networks clean.
Posted by: jan geirnaert | tropicaljantie | May 4, 2007 09:08 PM