Skype - eBay DevCon: First Day Highlights
The eBay Developers Conference launched yesterday morning minus the Cirque du Soleil performance we saw last year. More of a "let's get down to business" aura this year. A couple of key announcements:
Kevin Lynch, Senior VP and Chief Technical Officer of Adobe announced the launch of the beta for Adobe Air (formerly cod-named Apollo). Talk about going full circle. To put things in perspective:
- Early 1980 - launch of desktop applications on PC's
- Late 1990's - launch of web-based services via the Internet
- May 2007: Google Gears allows users to run web-based apps offline but still in a web browser
- June 11, 2007: Adobe launches Adobe Air beta which brings web-based apps to the desktop running in their own window, independent of any web browser
This was followed by a presentation by Alan Lewis, Project San Dimas Product Manager, who introduce one of the first Adobe Air applications, namely a desktop app for your eBay activity. When offline you can, for instance, set up auctions; when online you can manage all your auction activity. TheSan Dimas application is being tailored to provide some unique features in managing your eBay activity. Click here to sign up for the beta program.
Lunch was followed by Paul Amery's presentation on Skype as a global opportunity; a full review of Paul's presentation and my subsequent interview with Paul will come in a separate post. He did cover both the Software Developer Programs achievements to date - including over 21 million downloads of Skype Extras and successful outcomes for some Developer Partners, as well as the program's goals for the next year. Suffice to say that, while the presentation was sparsely attended, there was intense interest and a lively Q&A from those who did attend. We can expect to see a few new Skype Developer Partners coming "out of the woodwork". We can also expect a mashup contest over the summer where there will be a special emphasis on Skype mashups with eBay and PayPal.
So the debate about whether we will have desktop or web-based applications in the future becomes stunted with what amounts to convergence as we the emergence of bringing web-based applications back to the desktop.
Tags: eBayDevCon07, Adobe Air, San Dimas Project, eBay
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