Skype's front door, September 2005. Froda of hoistnow.com took this photo right before eBay bought Skype.

The product and the business have changed a lot in two years. Perhaps the hardest accomplishment was getting revenue run rates up to $200 million annually last year. This puts eBay's $4+ billion payout in perspective.

One of Meg Whitman's pitches for Skype was to think of Skype like PayPal: like a force multiplier.

Is Skype really an eBay force multiplier?

• How much is Skype responsible for eBay's 2007 commerce operations growth?

• How much has Skype contributed to making eBay markets more efficient?

• How much has Skype contributed to eBay traffic growth outside the United States and Canada?

• How much have sellers improved their operations by adding Skype to their toolkit?

• How many sellers have a Skype name in their profiles?

• How many eBay Pinks (eBay forum moderators, key influencers in the eBay Community) use Skype daily?

• How many eBay systems integrators and developers have built Skype presence capabilities for eBay posting into their products?

• Has even one eBay developer built Skype plug-ins for routing and dispatching inbound calls, turning their auction automation system into personal call center software? 

Skype's first mission is Skype. But Skypification of eBay is important too. If nothing else, eBay sellers influence lots of people, all potential Skype users.

Hmmmm. Where might you find hundreds of eBay developers this week?