I like the idea of the 3 Skypephone, mostly.

Some things were compromised to make it work:

• no SkypeOut (conflicting with 3, perhaps too complicated to sell with a mobile),
• no Skype video calls (processor, power, memory intensive),
• no public APIs (it is iSkoot's software, not Skype's),
• no end-to-end encryption (since Skype's encryption ends at iSkoot's servers).

But I can live with the compromises.

Because the point is to test things.

3 is testing if innovative calling and chatting experiences keep customers loyal. Is the buddy list and presence and threaded chat the new lock-in? Can all this soft, mushy, social balderdash pay off?

Skype is testing its ability to partner with carriers. Can Skype use its comparatively fresh Skype brand without using any Skype software at all? The phone is running iSkoot and Qualcomm software/firmware. Skype's roll is all in marketing the phone and selling SkypePro service plans.

Skype is testing its own virality on mobiles. Can Skype make the Skypephone's customers so happy they drag all their friends into the Skype network, restarting Skype's customer growth?

iSkoot is testing scale. What happens when millions use iSkoot as their primary mobile interface instead of as optional, infrequently used software? What will break? What new features will people demand?

Finally the Skype vs. Apple test: Are Skype's free/social power sufficient to defend 3's markets from iPhone mania? iPhone is rolling in the UK with O2 November 9, a week after the Skypephone.

You can buy the 3 Skypephone on Friday from the Skype online store. Or read about it now on its Skype product page.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 02:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype and 3 announced the first official 3G Skypephone will ship in United Kingdom 2 Nov ‘07. "Coming soon" to Australia, Italy, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Republic of Ireland.

£49.99. Works as a mobile phone. Works as a Skype client.

3G. NO WiFi. WiFi not required for Skyping. 

iSkoot clients talking to iSkoot servers. iSkoot running over Qualcomm's BREW. Not confirmed who makes the hardware.

White, Black. Blue and pink trim options.

More to come

Skype news release below the fold.

3 SKYPEPHONE DELIVERS FREE SKYPE TO SKYPE

MOBILE CALLS AND INSTANT MESSAGES AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON

LUXEMBOURG, 29^th October 2007 – Skype, the global Internet communications company and 3, the mobile operator, have launched a new affordable handset that lets you make free Skype to Skype calls and send free Skype instant messages from your mobile phone to other Skype users no matter where they are. 

The 3 Skypephone is a fully-featured 3G Internet phone with Skype built-in.  In addition to Skype calls the phone makes conventional calls and can be used to access 3’s broad range of other internet services.

3 customers using the 3 Skypephone will be able to make Skype calls and send instant messages on the move with the push of a button.   This is the first time an operator has offered a mass market device which is tailor-made for free calling over the internet from a mobile.  Now, all of Skype’s 246 million registered can be reached for free with the 3 Skypephone.

According to Michael van Swaaij, acting CEO at Skype, “Skype is now truly mobile. This new handset is incredibly easy to use and lets you make free mobile Skype calls when you are on the move to other Skype users all over the world no matter where they are.  It couldn’t be simpler – put Skype in your pocket and make free Skype mobile calls and send free Skype instant messages at the touch of a single Skype button.” 

Michael van Swaaij added, “Skype began by offering free PC to PC calling and now we’re doing the same with mobile calls with 3.  Thanks to 3, Skype has now taken a giant step forward in the mobile arena. It takes an innovative operator like 3 to challenge traditional thinking and offer the kind of product other operators are still shying away from.”

Kevin Russell, Chief Executive Officer, 3 UK, said, “3 wants to make the mobile internet available to everyone.  To do this, we believe that services need to be simple to access and affordable.  Communication is the prime function of the mobile today.  Skype is the leader in internet communications.  To enable Skype to go mobile in this way brings free internet calls together with an affordable 3G handset.  Mobile has the potential to massively increase access to internet calling.” 

The handset was developed by Skype and 3 in partnership with Qualcomm, using Qualcomm’s BREW platform to enable Skype to work with core handset features such as address book and messaging.

The 3 Skypephone will be available this year in the UK, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden.  Skype to Skype calls will always be free from your 3 Skypephone as long as you are on contract or your PAYG 3 credit is topped up monthly.  In the UK, the 3 Skypephone is £49.99 on a PAYG tariff or free on a contract. **

The 3 Skypephone is available from 2 November in 3Stores across the UK and from Skype and 3’s websites in time for Christmas.  The 3 Skypephone is available for pre-order in the UK from today.   Anyone who doesn’t already use Skype can create a Skype account by going to www.skype.com and downloading the free software onto their computer.  Alternatively they can create a Skype account directly from their 3 Skypephone.

** Fair use policy & terms apply.  See the 3 website in each country for local prices and conditions

**Free calls are Skype to Skype calls and Skype instant messages from the 3 network (in some countries this is also available when roaming on a 3 sister network). 

Notes to editors:

3 Skypephone functionality:

With 3G, a 2-megapixel camera, mp3 player, mobile TV and internet, 3 Skypephone keeps you occupied even when you run out of things to say. Plus, it’s small and shiny, and comes in black or white, with blue or pink trim.  3 Skypephone also includes:

• Fully integrated Skype functionality with contacts, call logs and presence.
• Access to Java and 3D games and two preloaded games
• 2.0 Megapixel camera
• Internet browsing
• Bluetooth
• Weight: 86g
• Size: 100 x 44 x 13.6mm
• Battery Standby: 320 Hours
• Battery Talk Time: 270 Minutes
• Battery Video Talk Time: 170 Minutes
• Screen Size: 2.0” QCIF (176 x 220)
• Colour: 262K
• Internal Memory: 16MB
• External Memory: expandable to 1GB microSD

Handset includes:

• Battery 1150mAh
• Battery cover (magnetic)
• Personal stereo hands free kit
• USB cable
• Mains charger
• CD–ROM for PC connection
• 256MB micro SD memory card (no adapter)
• 3 user guide
• Quick start guide for Skype

About 3

3 is a mobile media company delivering a convergence of communications, entertainment and information to customers on the move.  The three areas that form the core of its business are:

Communications – including all forms of personal communications; voice and video calling; text, picture and video messaging; and mobile blogging

Entertainment – including television; music audio and video, computer games, and media publishing

Information services – including wireless web, access to the best of the internet and a range of news services

3 UK is a member of the HWL group of 3G companies, which include 3G operations in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macau and Sweden.

About Skype

Skype sets the standard in providing new and easy ways to stay in touch over the internet. Millions of people every day make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages using our software. Some pay a little per minute for long-distance and international calls to phones and mobiles and for SMS, voicemail and call forwarding, or they buy subscriptions that give unlimited calls nationwide.

We certify and sell hundreds of hardware products from more than 50 partners and work with third-party developers to create software to extend Skype's functionality. Skype has been downloaded more than half a billion times and over 246 million people from almost every corner of the globe have registered. Make your world a smaller place: talk, share and do more with Skype.

Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY), and you can learn more and get Skype at www.skype.com.

Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Me, Skype Certified, Skypecasts, associated logos and the “S” symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm’s BREW solutions change the way people relate to wireless data services.  By enabling the discovery and delivery of high-value content, BREW creates opportunities for the wireless industry to enhance consumers’ mobile data experience.  Qualcomm’s comprehensive and targeted BREW Signature Solutions offer reduced time to market and lower capital investment for companies providing mobile products and services.  Customers also can benefit from several modular BREW offerings, including uiOne™, deliveryOne and QPoint™, which provide the foundation for customer-differentiated wireless data capabilities.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Thomas Howe laments the passing of the eTel conference and the thinking behind its demise that VoIP is boring ... stagnant ... unappealing ... not sexy. But he goes on to say "stick a fork in it baby, VoIP is done". And then he gets to the meat of voice's role going forward:

.... I think that anyone who deeply thinks about this stuff knows that voice, in and of itself, is pretty stagnant and boring. But, if you only consider voice by itself, and voice services as only being about voice, then you’re really at a dead end. But, as Martin Geddes would say, if you see the transformation from horizontal voice into vertical services, where voice stops becoming the important part, and starts supporting the other applications around it… then you see we {are} at the beginning of true, massive and ubiquitous voice enabled applications. I can’t believe that true Internet guys would miss this obvious architectural (in both business and bits) opportunity, but apparently… they have. [author's bold]

When you take out the hardware and, concurrently, you take the complexity out of call center operation as OnState has done for call center management, when you start providing tools for making conversations asynchronous as Evoca has done with their audio web services, when you embed conversation tools (voice and IM) into Salesforce.com as PamConsult has done by developing Skype for Salesforce.com you can start to see voice embedded into customer relationship management applications.

Go back and read my Skype Primer post on Skype's Extra Gallery and Developer Partner Program. Enhance business processes by embedding voice and you have a key differentiator for Skype; enhance business processes by embedding voice and you have not only increased productivity but also increased revenue opportunities for both the partners and their customers.

I look forward to meeting Thomas this week and learning more about embedding voice such that it supports many other vertical applications around it.

Tags: Skype, Thomas Howe, OnState, PamConsult, Evoca, Skype Developer Partners, Skype Extras

Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Tuesday I will be heading to Boston for the annual fall VON event. The past few shows have been criticized for their migration towards a "carrier" conference, leaving little room for attracting the innovators in the (IP) telecommunications space. As a result Carl Ford, Chief Community Development Officer at PulverMedia, has included an Innovator's Track where the creative talents reign supreme. Intriguing topics to be covered include

• Rapid Development
• VoIP over 3G
• VoIP, Virtualizaton and New Service Creation
• Enterprise 2.x
• Social Networking
• Goin' Mobile with Skype
• iHacks Freeing the iPhone
• Europe Leads the Way
• The Secret Life of HD VoIP

with panelists such as Thomas Howe (aka Mr. Mashup), James Tagg (Truphone), Ben Lilienthal (VAPPS - HighSpeedConferencing), Aswath Rao, Helen Khais (IM+ for Skype), Stephane Marceau (Mobivox), Samuel Li (iSkoot), Jeff Black (Talk Plus) amongst others.

But this was not sufficient so Carl has also worked with Thomas Howe, Alec Saunders and other to create a VONCamp UnConference. I have no experience with Unconferences but in addition to Alec and Thomas both Jon Arnold and Brough Turner have written about it.

The challenge for me is to determine when I should be at the Innovators Track and when at the VONCamp. But to help sort it out:

The Innovators Forum is a series of sessions that show case companies in our more traditional format. However dialogue in these sessions is encouraged. The VONCamp Unconference is harder to describe, because it gives people a chance to self identify as a speaker. ... If you've got something you want to discuss that's outside the formal program, VONCamp Unconference is the place to do it.

Posted by Jim Courtney at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"A kiss for Enrico from his Nonna... Our grandson Enrico in the U.S. (and his generation), will never remember not being able to have a video conversation with his grandparents half-way around the world in Italy. Now, if Skype would only invent a "hug" button!"
- Rick Pappas

In the banner close-up you cannot tell who is virtual and who is real. Does it matter?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 04:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week we reached for the first time 10 million concurrent Skype users online. Completely to my surprise, this week we went over 10.270.000 users online. This is an increase of 2.5% in one week!

Is the deal with MySpace already harvesting new Skype Users? Perhaps, because i noticed also an increase in the number of downloads of the Skype client! The download speed is twice as high as some weeks ago.

Below I published the updated graph of the evolution of users online since the beginning of Skype in August 2003 (my data samples).

Users online fluctuate during the day, week and months, but reach now sometimes 10 million users online, and never go below 4 million users online (see the two blue curves, representing "upper" and "lower" limits of users online over the last 4 years). Some reasons for the fluctuations are:

• At night some people log off;
• During the weekend, fewer people are online;
• Holiday periods (summer, New Year, other public holidays) are also "bad" for the online number.

Although the growth of users online has been strong the last two weeks, I still don’t believe we will reach the 11 million mark this year!

Jean Mercier keeps count at Skype Numerology.

Posted by Jean Mercier at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The release of the Leopard OS for the Mac is still getting its spots cleaned up. Andy Abramson reports on issues with handling some SIP-based applications. However, he also reports that Gizmo Project and SightSpeed are now working as intended due to the dedication of some employees working through a Saturday today.

Seems there may be a problem with Skype; use it once but don't try to open it again. If you have any experience with this, please use the comments.

I think I'll wait until after the New Year before acquiring a MacBook.

Posted by Jim Courtney at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Guest post by Yu-Hsiu Lee, Doctoral Student, Language Education Department, Indiana University Bloomington and Chinese Instructor, Asian Culture Center, Indiana University.

The trend of teaching and learning Chinese over Skype online is receiving more and more attention. The relationship between Skype and online Chinese instruction was extensively discussed at the the Fifth International Conference on Internet Chinese Education in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2-4, 2007[1]. Some conference sessions where Skype was on the programme:

• The cooperation of Chinese computer-assisted language learning between Industry and Academia
• Integration between Chinese E-learning and E-Teaching
• Development and production of Chinese E-learning courseware
• Application, Implementation, Collaboration for Internet-based Chinese school

Even on the Chinese Language Teacher Association's job board, the biggest Chinese teaching job board in the world, training firm ChineseDawn posted an ad to recruit Skype online Chinese Mandarin tutors and teachers.

8.07.07: ChineseDawn (CLTA Job Announcements, Chinese Language Teacher Association,Inc, 2007)

Skype Online Mandarin Teachers/Tutors Required.

ChineseDawn is recruiting for Mandarin Tutors and Teachers in preparation of its launch in late September 2007.

ChineseDawn is in the process of creating a dedicated web site where UK residents (Corporate, Schools, Adult, Teen, Kids and Family)can subscribe to a series of scheduled 1 to 1 lessons and be matched with suitable teachers. Teachers who can spare at least a few hours per week are invited.

ChineseDawn will be embarking on extensive online and newspaper advertising in August.

50% of all revenues will go to the Teachers. Initially the service will be charged at £8 ($16) per 45 minute lesson for private individuals. (Teacher will receive £4 (GB Sterling) per 45 minutes).

Using Skype to learn Chinese as second language is extremely popular among many non-Chinese spoken countries (i.e., UK, USA, Australia, Thailand and Canada). Skype has helped this Chinese online teaching industry to grow enormously (e.g., ChineseDawn).

Pros: audio, video, and convenience 

First of all, when learning a second or foreign language, the authentic pronunciation input given by native speakers of the target language is crucial.

For those who are auditory learners, Skype has provided a high quality and stable sound system as compared to other VoIP Internet Calls. The more students listen to Chinese through Skype in Chinese as a foreign language context, the better their Chinese proficiency can be increased, because their brain does the work in acquiring Chinese while spending one or two hours listening to Chinese online.

Chinese as a second language learners, therefore, can get clear and authentic pronunciation from their tutors via Skype and improve their Chinese language competence and performance.

Secondly, convenience. if you are busy doing your job over the daily course of your life, Skype online learning might be a good choice for you to learn Chinese. As long as you can set up a time when you and your Skype Chinese teacher can meet online, you still can learn Chinese in spite of your busy schedule. Skype makes Chinese learning accessible for those who need to learn Chinese, but have busy schedule.

Third, in comparison to numerous software-based Chinese learning e-tools, Skype has an advantage since visual learners can see the face of their tutors to best help them learn Chinese.

Cons: non-verbal cues, feedback

A teacher is limited in modeling non-verbal Chinese communication events for students over Skype. For instance, when we apologize to someone in our native languages, we have non-verbal expressions along with the words we speak. 

What's more, when a Skype online Chinese teacher drills his (or her) students to practice pronunciation, reading, or writing, it is difficult to monitor students' real performance and progress. Therefore, the issue of Skype-based Chinese language assessment and evaluation might be a big concern for Skype engineers or Chinese pedagogy educators to deal with.

Conclusions

Nevertheless, Skype ultimately offers a decent E-environment for online Chinese learning. It gives a high quality web-based platform for both sound communication and visualization, assisting all the possible Internet-based foreign language teaching and learning practice.

References

1. Graduate Institution of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, National Taiwan
2. Normal University. (2007). Conferences. Retrieved Oct 26th, 2007 from http://www.ntnu.edu.tw/tcsl/
3. CLTA Job Anouncements. (2007). ChineseDawn. Retrieved Oct 26th, 2007 from http://clta-us.org/employ.htm.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

This is the fifth post in a series summarizing the current state of Skype's ecosystem and providing a perspective on the assets in place for a new CEO to run with.

The intrigue of low cost mobile conversations in a user-friendly environment has generated significant interest and speculation amongst Skype followers. Device resource capacity, communications standards limitations and finding a role within carrier business models have all imposed restrictions on the adoption of Skype on mobile platforms. I probably see more queries about using Skype on a mobile platform than the combination of all other Skype issues. And, as with designing mobile websites, it's not a simple case of what works on the landline web works on wireless mobile platforms.

A Brief History of Skype on mobile devices

May 2005 saw the initial speculation about Skype on a (Symbian) mobile platform; nine months later Stuart reported on the sighting of a prototype Skype for Symbian¹ that provided text messaging and a "push to talk" application that has never seen the light of day. Over the past three years we have seen the evolution of Skype for Mobile on Windows Mobile platforms. Skype WiFi phones, available in the fall 2006, did not exactly take off due to both sparse wireless coverage and device resource limitations (not to mention costs). This past summer we learned about two Skype-enabled services providing both voice and chat for Blackberries and Nokia smartphones (IM+ for Skype and iSkoot); they actually worked more or less as promoted! And it sounds like next week we may actually see a Skype phone on the 3 services.

Wireless VoIP: a Primer

At VON Boston next week late Wednesday morning will see a session "Going Mobile with Skype - Beep, Beep". So it's timely to review what we have learned to date, where the Skype on mobile platforms world is at and the critical questions for this session. First, what have we learned:

• Wireless access: VoIP over wireless requires either WiFi or a 3G network to have the horsepower to provide the low latency², appropriate bandwidth as well as data handling speeds required for high quality calls.
• Dual mode devices that support WiFi and/or 3G have only recently become available. Nokia's E61, N80 and N95 along with the recently introduced Blackberry 8320 Curve and 8820 are examples.
• There exists an installed base of 3.5 billion conventional phone devices and handsets
• There are currently two applications that support true VoIP calling on mobile platforms:
  • Truphone is fully integrated into various N-series devices such that VoIP calls can be made from WiFi zones or over a 3G network. But Truphone is largely a voice only service.
  • Skype for Mobile works on Windows Mobile 5 & 6 platforms but again requires WiFi or 3G.
  • Both these applications are fully integrated in that they access the native address book and follow the legacy process for making phone calls: look up a name, select a number, push the Call button and the called party's phone rings.
• Update: The 3 Skypephone introduced Monday, October 29 fundamentally changes nothing with respect to the above statements..

Skype's User Issues

The key user issues involving Skype access on mobile devices include:

• Ease of installation, if any, and provisioning
• Call initiation procedure: get number, direct call or callback
• Finding the number:
  • Access to device's native address book
  • Access to a users' Skype Contact list
  • Voice recognition
• Battery life
• Text input: T9 or QWERTY keyboard
• Availability of Skype text chat
• Carrier voice and data plans
• Notification and interruption control
  • especially with text messages
• Transparent geographical wireless coverage

Carrier Issues: Do they even want to go the VoIP route? Especially if they use GSM standards!

• VoIP carrier adoption basically requires an unlimited data plan to have maximum geographical coverage but do the carriers have the capacity to handle all the data that would result? A 60 minute VoIP call can result in 8 to 15 MB of data being exchanged.
• UMA/GAN is a recently launched standard that provides not only the ability to handle voice over WiFi using more conventional wireless protocols but also seamless transition as one traverses from a WiFi to GSM or GSM to WiFi zone.
  • Implementation requires carrier support and UMA-enabled devices, such as the Blackberry 8320 Curve and 8820.
  • Currently available on T-Mobile Hotspot @ Home, Cincinnati Bell Home Run in the U.S. and Orange throughout Europe amongst others.
  • UMA/GAN only operates on GSM networks and involves SIP for establishing a connection over the Internet.

So what are the incentives for carriers to even consider VoIP, given that, for GSM carriers, their underlying wireless service has the technology to transition seamlessly across protocol zone boundaries:

• Carriers can offer customers a fully supported, but lower cost, seamless service with maximum geographical coverage
• Provides a standard where business and consumer customers can transparently transition between networks
• Reduces carrier network congestion as well as cell tower and network build-out costs if customers install WiFi routers at home and/or business office (usually at customer's expense)
• Carriers can go more aggressively after landline phone replacement business,
  • especially in the residential market
  • minimum on-site service required at the home
    • assist with installing WiFi access point
• Some carriers are also supporting WiFi Hotspots: T-Mobile, Canadian Hotspot network (and according to my network of contacts, extensively in Europe such as The Cloud in London)
• Fixed fee subscription for UMA/GAN allows unlimited calling from hotels, airports, food service businesses, etc. while traveling (T-Mobile - $19.95 per month)
• UMA/GAN inherently incorporates E911 support.

Accessing Skype on Mobile Devices

What are the current implementations of Skype and VoIP mobile on mobile devices?

• Skype for Mobile (Windows Mobile 6 devices): voice and IM
• Truphone (several Nokia E- and N-series devices): voice, SMS and presence
• IM+ for Skype (Blackberry 8xxx, Nokia, iPhone, iTouch): voice, conference calls, multi-location and IM
• iSkoot (Blackberry, Nokia, 3 Skypephone (update) and others): voice and IM
• Mobivox: (Any phone; no device download, talk to VoxGirl): voice
• MyToGo (from any predesignated mobile phone via a Skype-enabled PC; no phone download): voice

Issues:

• Carrier voice access charges: all these offerings require the carrier to provide access to the voice network whether direct call or callback; minutes may be counted against your plan or it's pay-as-you-go.
• Carrier data plan charges:
  • Skype for Mobile and Truphone require 3G data plan, if not in a WiFi zone, and will invoke any data plan charges when using their VoIP for voice.
  • IM+ for Skype, and; iSkoot use the data plan for setting up calls, text messaging and to maintain presence information but revert to the underlying voice service for the actual voice calls.
  • Mobivox and MyToGo do not require data plan access
• WiFi capability will reduce or eliminate these charges when in a WiFi zone, even for voice if on a UMA-enabled service. (My first billing using the 8820 has seen about a 50% drop in my GPRS/EDGE data plan usage yet I use the data features much more liberally, especially when in my home office.)
• Battery life: using WiFi will draw down the battery more quickly, Nokia has a utility which helps to minimize WiFi scanning to only when absolutely necessary, yet my N95 must be recharged nightly. Currently iSkoot will drain my Blackberry 8820 (which has 40% more battery capacity than the 8700 series) within a day; IM+ for Skype runs for two to three days before draining the battery. (The GPS on the N95 and 8820 may also be a factor in battery life.)

Criteria for evaluating mobile Skype services

As we listen to the presenters at Wednesday's session the key criteria for Skype on Mobile include:

• How voice calls are implemented
• Skype chat availability and operation
• Access to contacts (Native device address book and/or Skype contacts)
  • Maximum number of contacts supported
• Wireless access support required: voice, voice and data; 2G/GPRS/EDGE, 3G and/or WiFi
• Range of services: voice, text chat, conference calling, support for Skype calling plans, "call back" location support
• Status and mood message handling
• Role for mobile mashups involving, say, Skype and mobile Google Maps

As Thomas Howe mentioned in our recent interview "What do people always have with them?". Mobile-enabled conversations on Skype will be playing a key role in Skype's evolution going forward. The one certainty is that Skype's approach will probably comprise multiple services, each serving a particular market niche, based on not only the mobile device, but also ease-of-use and the conversation modes desired.

I look forward to reporting from Boston on this session (and the impact of Skype's 3 announcement Monday on the direction of this session).

¹ Note that Nokia is the largest vendor of Symbian phones including their E-series and N-series.
² 2G/GPRS/EDGE networks have an inherent latency of 8 seconds for VoIP calls. Yes, 8 seconds!

PhoneBoy has his thoughts on WiFi-enabled phones and UMA. Again I say that just having the data go through WiFi at this time is a big benefit for me.

Other posts in this series:

• A Backgrounder
• Enabling Real Time Communications
• Skype Hardware - If and When Available
• Skype's Extras Gallery and Developer Partner Program

Tags: Skype, mobile Skype, Wireless Skype, Skype for Mobile, Symbian, Nokia, Blackberry, 8320, 8820, VON Boston, IM+ for Skype, iSkoot, Truphone, N95, N80, N-series, E-series, 3G, WiFi VoIP, 3, UMA, UMA/GAN, T-Mobile, Orange, Canadian Hotspot Network, Mobivox, MyToGo, Thomas Howe, Going Mobile with Skype

Posted by Jim Courtney at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This is the information I received from one of my "global blog and Skype informants" who likes to remain anonymous. These are supposed to be the specifications of the 3Skypephone. See below. Can't wait to get a sample for review.

I also checked the domain www.3skypephone.com; it is already registered. Not sure by who. But if you look up www.3skypephone.co.uk you find "michele carter" as registrant. Not sure who that is either. Anyways. Little tidbits of information will create a full picture.

The 3Skypephone launches 2 November.

We're launching our own mobile, the 3Skypephone. It's the evolution of handsets, it's mobile Skype.

Calling the world is now free. All calls to other 3Skypephones and other Skype users are made at no cost.

It's simple to use. Customers can just log into their Skype account like they would on a PC or create one quickly. All their contacts will appear on screen, so they can check their status and decide whether they want to call or instant message their friends. And there's a dedicated Skype key so calls can be made instantly.

The 3Skypephone comes with some great features:

• 2 Megapixel camera
• Photo editing and effects function
• Video capture
• MP3 player
• Inbuilt equalizer which enhances reproduction delivering great bass
• Simple navigation for browsing the library

Calls on the 3Skyephone are truly free, there are no calling charges, no data charges and no need to buy an extra add-on. It's FREE calls to anyone, anywhere at anytime.

The 3Skypephone comes in 3 great colours and will be available on Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go for the festive season market. It will also be the only phone available on the new £12 Mix and Match 100 tariff which offers 100 minutes or texts or any mix of the two.

It will be on the available as of 29th October for a pre-launch before the official launch on 2nd November.

Posted by Jan Geirnaert at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

AuctionBytes.com is an "independent trade publications for online merchants", clearly with eBay as their primary focus; they produce a podcast under the title eCommerce Industry SoundBytes.. In a recent interview with Ina Steiner, Editor and Publisher of AuctionBytes.com, OnState Communications CEO Pat Kelly talks about how the OnState ACD call center is becoming as a key customer engagement tool for their clients. Pat had demonstrated OnState ACD to Ina at eBay Live back in June. In this interview they talk about:

• OnState's focus on customer service and business communications for the small and medium enterprise space.
• OnState's role in enhancing business to business and business to consumer relationships using Skype
• how Onstate lets customers communicate with a vendor in the way most convenient to the individual customer, especially where the client's customers do not use Skype
• how OnState can provide customer service infrastructure for online resellers
• how Onstate's clients are embedding OnState communications options into their websites via click-to-call with any of Skype, a local call or a toll free (800) number and directing customer calls to the right person
• the role of, and place for, live chat in providing customer service
• how eBay resellers, who are already familiar with Live Chat, could be using OnState's Live Chat features and Skype for servicing their customers through instant messaging
• Ina's experience with using IM at virtual trade shows
• how OnState has simplified the live chat process and, in turn, removed much of the complexity and cost involved with live chat implementation and operation.
• how, clients are driving their customers to adopt Skype to build the ongoing client-customer relationship such that the combination of OnState and Skype becomes a viable marketing tool, especially in business-to-business conversations
• how an OnState ACD client builds their personalized horse rug business using OnState ACD and Skype to accelerate the sales process where customers want to know not only about the product but also the craftspeople behind the product.
• how a retailer of health products for lifestyle enhancements worked OnState into their marketing activities to drive business not only from their website but also radio ads. "Web 2.0 Mail Order".
• the OnState pricing model
• the role of voice as one embedded mode of real time customer communications when using the web for retailing

And Pat points out that OnState's focus is on clients who require real time conversations, regardless of business size. High product value, building the emotions associated with personal items such as jewelry along with opportunities to upsell and cross-sell and cement the customer relationship are the more important criteria for adopting call center and live chat infrastructure as a powerful marketing tool.

Listen to the complete interview to get the full story about how the combination of OnState and Skype are creating new business opportunities and successes for online retailers. And you can try it out at their own website.

Previous posts:

• Call Center Infrastructure Disruption - A True Voice 2.0 Application Incorporating Skype
• OnState Converts Skype IM Client into a Live Chat Center Agent
• On Being a Skype Software Business Solution Partner
• Getting the Story Right: Whose Call Center for Skype was Introduced?
• OnState Booth at VoiceCon

In closing this interview provides a practical example of why Skype's Developer Partners are so critical to Skype's success going forward -- not only for the services they provide but also for the revenue opportunities for both the partners and Skype. Must listening and reading for Skype CEO candidates.

Disclosure: OnState has been a consulting client; the author offers professional services based on previous experience with the implementation and operation of Live Chat services.

Tags: Skype, AuctionBytes.com, OnState, OnState Communications, live chat, call center, Pat Kelly, Ina Steiner, eBay, eBay resellers

Posted by Jim Courtney at 04:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rumors of Monday's launch of a Skypified phone spread as the Skype PR Engine Revs Up! If you're a London tech blogger, Skype the Skype Journal Editor for a private briefing on Monday. 

VONCamp.net Fall VON is trying for a "fifth track" unconference next week. wiki: "Editing permissions are currently limited to those who have registered to attend Fall VON." Not quite the open BarCamp ethos.

Get Live ID without a PC on Microsoft Mobile. Good move.

Gadget Porn of the SMC WiFi Phone with Skype inside!

John Paczkowski and Tim O'Reilly share their thoughts on eBay CEO Meg Whitman's talk at the Web 2.0 Summit.

How to ask VCs for cash over Skype! 

Free my Phone! says Walt Mossberg.

Presence letting me down. :( says Lance and P2P Presence isn't always Availability says Aswath.

South Pacific island Tokelou stays connected with Skype!

SpinVox will let you phone in your facebook updates with Skype!

Multiplication wrestling over Skype!

ACMA says no need to offer 000 emergency service in Australia over Skype!

FCC still undecided on Mobile Carterfone unlocking rules proposed by Skype!

Skype Skype Skype Skype!

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Download the new version, Skype 3.6.0.159 Beta for Windows. The most visible part of the update are two MySpace points of integration:

• Profile connection and
• using your MySpace avatar as your Skype avatar.

Identity harmony (linkage, profile updates, policy mapping) comes before other forms of interop, like presence, privacy controls, buddy list sharing, etc.

A few problems remain:

1. 1-to-1 ID vs. Faceted identity. Many MySpacers keep multiple IDs. Many Skypers have multiple IDs. People partition their personal and work identities, but need one dashboard for managing them.
2. UI Design doesn't leave room for network partner #2.
3. No APIs and other specs for integrating your Skype ID with Network X.

Social networks create context for conversation. Carriers like Skype must inject themselves into those contexts, to be convenient when the context drives people to talk.

See also: Skype voice engine powers new MySpaceIM client

Below the fold: Screenshots of a walk through linking your MySpace and Skype IDs...

File > Edit Your Profile

You see the new MySpace option. "Connect Skype to your MySpace profile and share your pictures, videos and more with your Skype contacts."

> Connect to MySpace

Log in to MySpace. You're trusting Skype with your MySpace login data.

You have three options.

• "Use this as your Skype picture"
• "Link to your MySpace profile in your Skype profile"
• "Show a link to your MySpace profile in your mood"

Save, and see your profile...

All connected!

The "Disconnect" button breaks the link. 

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A year ago September at VON Boston I attended a session, IM The State of Presence, for which the Skype representative was Nitzan Shaer, Director, Mobile Devices, Skype. I recall meeting with Nitzan briefly after the session and mentioned that I thought it was time to move beyond Skype WiFi phones. Shortly afterwards Nitzan left Skype to become Entrepreneur-in-Residence with IDG Ventures Boston.

As mentioned in a post a few days ago, Mobivox obtained a new $11 million financing from various venture capital firms, including founding investor IDG Ventures Boston. Today came the announcement that Nitzan, who actively participated in organizing the financing round, is joining Mobivox as COO.

Saunderslog: Mobivox hires COO.

Does this presage marketing agreements with handset manufacturers? Perhaps. Mobivox is somewhat unique in that it requires no cooperation from handset manufacturers to go to market. Or possibly Mobivox is trying to forge a stronger relationship with Skype as they begin their push into the handset space.

From my interview with CEO Stephane Marceau last week and our discussion of future plans I think Alec is reading too much into this. Simply stated, Mobivox works with every manufacturers' device, landline and mobile; they are going to focus on leveraging their core speech recognition technology to deliver new device independent services.

Tags: Skype, Mobivox, Nitzan Shaer, Stephane Marceau, IDG Ventures Boston

Posted by Jim Courtney at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype partner HighSpeedConferencing enhances their conferencing infrastructure to provide high definition voice for all Skype participants on a call.

Skype-to-Skype calls have long been known for their high quality audio; certainly when I am talking to another Skype user using my stereo headset, it sounds like the other party is "inside my head". To give a brief explanation:

The human voice and ear have an audio bandwidth range to produce voice and hear sounds up to 22 KHz. But the introduction of electronics, such as microphones, speakers, switches, amplifiers and repeaters, into the landline telephone system reduces that bandwidth transmitted by the legacy telephone system to under 4 KHz -- sufficient to clearly get across the essence of the voice conversation but certainly not for recording the deep audio of that high pitched soprano or tenor solo you just may be hearing and definitely not providing the full richness of a face-to-face conversation. Mobile phones have an audio bandwidth that is about 50% of landlines bringing us the sometimes scratchy quality of mobile calls. But the Skype engine is capable of handling audio up to somewhere around 12KHz, providing a much richer and more realistic sound approaching the reality of face-to-face human conversation. At VON Boston next week, the general concept of high bandwidth voice in real time conversations is taking on the term High Definition Voice (HD Voice) at a session in the Innovators track called The Secret Life of HD VoIP. (As an aside, audio bandwidth should not be confused with the network bandwidth required to make a Skype call; different issues related to transmission of voice packets.)

One problem created by this reality is that Skype calls to SkypeOut numbers lose that high bandwidth quality. In the worst case, due to all the compression/decompression going on involving both voice and wireless compression standards, it sometimes becomes difficult to complete a call to a mobile phone. And in conference calls involving both Skype and SkypeOut participants, the call quality is reduced to the lowest common bandwidth.

For three years, VAPPS, Inc. of Hoboken, NJ has been offering its HighSpeedConferencing service extending conference calls involving both Skype and PSTN participants to as many as 500 participants. A key differentiator of this service is that VAPPS uses their own proprietary conferencing bridge which mixes the Skype and PSTN audio streams for listening by all the conference call participants. Today VAPPS is launching a beta high definition voice version of their High Speed Conferencing service that incorporates an enhanced version of this bridge. The result is that all Skype participants on the call will hear each other at the full audio bandwidth inherently available with Skype. Participants on landlines and mobile will still get the quality level associated with the underlying landline and mobile services.

Ben Lilienthal, CEO and Founder of Vapps, Inc., has made several demonstration calls with me over the past few months where he goes from a Skype connection to a landline connection; the voice quality difference is very noticeable with a richer deeper sound from the Skype connection and a "squeakier" sound on the landline connection.

But from a target market perspective, Vapps has combined the new high definition voice capability with the established robustness. reliability and scalability of their conferencing server into services that target the entire enterprise conferencing market currently served by the legacy telcos, such as AT&T, Verizon, Bell Canada and Telus. With its continued 500 participant capacity, weekly sales meetings, virtual webinars and even (eBay) analyst presentations can now be handled through the HighSpeedConferencing service with much higher voice quality and significantly lower costs.

So where does Skype fit in? HighSpeedConferencing offers, in addition to a "Pay-As-You-Go" plan, several monthly subscription, unlimited use plans based on the maximum number of participants. The "additional costs" are in making the connection between the participant and the conference bridge. Under these plans:

• Skype-based participants have no additional costs
• Calls from landlines and mobile devices have any associated long distance charges to the conference's landline number
• The host can also make available an 800 number (in eight countries) and pay for the participants calling in from a landline.
• The plan includes a base number of toll-free minutes per month for landline/mobile participants.

Reservations and scheduling of calls are optional but no reservations are needed. Additional features with the subscriptions are:

• Call recording with 30-day storage
• Hand raising along with host control of individual participants' mute/unmute
• Web Controls for host management of the calls

For instance, a 100 user plan costs $125 per month for the host; this includes unlimited minutes for Skype users, 2500 toll-free minutes for landline/mobile participants as well as the call recording, hand raising and web controls features.

Also of note:

• Skype participants on a Pay-As-You-Go call will pay $0.04/minute per participant; landline/mobile participants (US/Canada) are $0.07 per minute per participant
• A 30-day free trial of the "HighSpeed 25" subscription is available to allow enterprises to work out how HighSpeedConferencing can be incorporated into their communications activities.
• High Speed Conferencing is a Featured Skype Extra for this quarter and can be accessed from the Tools | Do More | Get Extras menu in Skype.
• High Speed Conferencing also works with the Skype-enhanced collaboration services Skype Extras: Convenos and Yugma Skype Edition.

From the press release:

We are thrilled to offer this service to the small businesses and entrepreneurs that are always searching for the most effective tools for success,” said Ben Lilienthal, CEO of Vapps. “Highspeedconferencing.com presents the perfect convergence of high quality, low-cost and flexibility in the audio conferencing industry.”

The ability for small businesses to host these calls via the telephone or the Internet, not only enables them to present their clients with big business offerings, such as flexibility, but it also enables them to do so using the low cost of Internet communications.

Skype for one has recognized the importance of applications built by partners like Vapps for three years now and the value they bring to the Skype platform. Since 1st October, 2007, Skype has been promoting the Vapps HighSpeed Conferencing solution to its 220 million registered users as a premium extra.

Update: Andy Abramson comments at VoIP Watch:

A call yesterday showed how bright and full it sounds. The platform works with mobile, VoIP, PSTN and Skype inbound calls, and can handle up to 500 simultaneous participants per call.

Vapps, Inc. CEO Ben Lilienthal will be a panelist at the Enterprise 2.x session at next week's VON Boston.

Update, Nov. 30: Dan York comments in DIsruptive Telephony.

Footnote: we are starting to see mass confusion about what is meant by HD when it comes to audio-based services:

• Intel actually has set specifications and released products using the term HD Audio
• HD Radio really means Hybrid Digital Radio
• And VON Boston next week is having a session on HD VoIP.

Tags: Skype, VAPPS, HighSpeedConferencing, Convenos, Unyte, Yumga Skype, HD Voice

Posted by Jim Courtney at 05:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ivar Ekman points out Google's Jaiku poses a privacy risk.

Ahem. That's the point of disclosure.

And presence.

Presence is the approved radiation of your latest information.

Presence authorization is not a binary disclosure to Everyone or Nobody.

Authorization can be, must be, tailored to the recipient.

Four dimensions of influence:

1. You might base disclosure on attributes of the recipient.

• Groups they belong to (family, co-workers, people I hate),
• age (adults-only data),
• location,
• citizenship,
• security clearance,
• social proximity,
• relationship history (people you've talked/chatted/met with in the last year).

Jaiku and facebook share presence based on group affiliation and social connection. 

2. Perhaps authorization is more closely tied to which data you share. Some people share their calendar. Do you share just your availability? Your location at a given time? What you'll be doing? With whom? 

3. Social context frames the authorizing decision. Perhaps you don't share your political life at work. Or your fantasy blog with your family.

4. Time and your Sense of Now change the value of information. Do seconds matter? Minutes? Hours? Some information is better shared late. Perhaps you enjoy sharing the restaurants you visit, but not while you are there. Other information loses value quickly: minute-to-minute election day results, for example.

5. Licensing sets terms of use. Perhaps you agree not to share this data. Or to only share it under certain conditions. 

The blend informs disclosure. Of what you share with whom, in each context and precisely when must inform disclosure. You should be able to share your latest blonde jokes only with your blonde friends (data and hair color of the recipient).

Presence is subscribed to, actively requested, not only available for public scraping.

Presence subscription calls for subscribers to disclose too.

So Authorization looks like Negotiation...

"I want to subscribe to information about you."

"Are you representing a human?"

"Yes, here are my credentials."

"Ah, looks like you are on my client's friend list. Here's a list of feeds you're eligible for."

"Jokes! Cool. Yes, I would like to see your joke stream."

"I need more information. Have you ever tripped over a wireless phone?"

"Yes, I am a blonde."

"Great. You agree to only share these with other blondes?

"On my blonde honor."

"You should be able to see the blonde jokes stream now."

Since Dave Winer and Netscape first promoted RSS in 1997, syndication meant being public, sharing your content with Google.

Skype, Jaiku, and all presence providers must rethink their

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week, I included Mobivox as one route to call your Skype contacts from any of the 3.5 billion conventional phones out there, whether landline or mobile (including the iPhone and Blackberries). I had the opportunity to get an update on Mobivox and its user demographics in a discussion with Mobivox CEO Stephane Marceau.

Their big news last week was the announcement of an $11 million financing round involving not only their original investors but adding in new Asian investors. The interest of Asian investors was aroused when Mobivox was able to point out that they were finding significant Mobivox usage by Asians. In fact, their top six countries for usage are: U.S., U.K., China, India, Canada, Germany and Israel. Funds are to be used for both marketing and development of new features and services.

Another interesting statistic arising out of their user base demographics is that over 20% of their users are over 55. Seems like Mobivox is being used to close family connections where the senior generation can easily make calls via Mobivox from any familiar telephone device, whether at home or traveling. Often they find a younger generation registering their parents.

Recently they also added the capability to launch calls via either SMS or a web interface -- especially useful for making calls from countries not included in their base of 40 countries with access points.

Goals for the next year include simplifying the user experience and more advanced features that leverage speech as a user interface. (Recall that Mobivox works by dialing an access number and then speaking a "registered" contact name to the VoxGirl who then makes the connection; speech recognition is one of their core technologies.)

Just to recall, beyond any carrier charges to reach an access point, calls between Mobivox subscribers or from a Mobivox user to a Skype user are free; while calls to conventional phones have rates dependent on the termination country, starting at 1.9 cents/minute to Canada, U.S., China and many European countries' landlines. And they offer a first time free 10 minutes to encourage user trial.

Note: Mobivox CEO Stephane Marceau will be amongst the panelists at a session, Going Mobile with Skype - Beep, Beep, at VON Boston in ten days.

Saunderslog: Mobivox and Truphone: What kind of mobile user are you?

Tags: Mobivox, Skype

Posted by Jim Courtney at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So far Comcast is shutting down IBM Lotus uploads and bittorrents. A U.S. ISP arrogantly deciding they know better than their paying customers which bits deserve standard treatment and which should be punished. Discriminating based on the content of those bits. They call it "network management" or "traffic shaping" for the good of the network. Rogers in Canada throttled traffic almost two years' ago. China does this every day; Skype Journal is still blocked in China. Censorship by any other name... 

Skype could be next. Nothing in law or contract keeps Comcast from disrupting your communication based on your content. For all we know, Comcast does this now.

What to do about this? David Isen says a Net Neutrality law is not enough.

If, instead, we had a law that said, "Network operators must not have a financial interest in any of the content carried by that network," we could be assured that any network operator's network management would be for the sole purpose of running the network. Such a law would keep government out of the network management business. Enforcement would be via financial audit. Such a law is called Structural Separation.

Professor Susan Crawford calls for Weinbergerian Delamination:

What's the solution? Structural separation. You’re either a plain-vanilla transport company serving all comers, or you’re something else competing for our attention. But this mixture, this hybrid of apparent-communication plus editorial control, is unacceptable.

Proof that Comcast's behavior is evil? The pimps for laisse faire at the Technology Liberation Front don't seem to mind it.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Guest opinion by Gordon Voller, Skype Forums Super User, personally responsible for 3% of all forum activity.  

Let's turn our attention to the way the Skype support/bug reporting structure is operated and how I think it should be operated and vastly improved.

The Support request/bug reporting structure uses two methods for reporting problems/bugs.

1. The Support request ticket which is done via the main Skype.com web site or by clicking on Help from the main Skype window then choosing "Contact Customer Support."

2. The Skype Developers Zone "Jira" where you either login or sign up for an account and report your problem/bug including any log files you may have generated.

A Message In a Bottle

Let's take the support request ticket system first. Once you have filled in all the boxes marked with red star * you then submit your ticket. At this stage nine out of ten times you are told that information regarding your problem can be found in the Skype knowledge base and you can't send your support ticket.

So you do as Skype suggest and look in the knowledge base to see if there is any help or advice on your problem. After typing in many questions regarding your problem, you are given many answers which, in quite a few cases, have nothing at all to do with your problem. So it is back to the support request page to fill in your information all over again, only to be told AGAIN your problem is dealt with in the knowledge base.

Knowing this not to be true, you try for a third time, thinking you might have given some wrong information but, no, having checked and re-checked your submission, you find it is correct.

Now by this time you are getting very very frustrated because you KNOW you have done everything they have asked you to do, so this is where you scroll to the bottom of the submission page to see if there is any other way to report your problem and, what do you see, surprise surprise, a little button that says 'click here to send your report anyway,' therefore you press it and away goes your report into the wide blue yonder, hopefully on its way to the Skype help desk.

According to Skype you should receive an acknowledgement that your request has been received, together with a ticket number that is supposed to correspond with your report.

This reply is an automated reply and should arrive in your email box within a minimum of four WORKING days. I ask you: four working days? Now this makes you even more angry because you could, through no fault on your part, be without your Skype service for a minimum of four working days before any attempt is made to contact you regarding your problem. In some cases there has been NO contact made at all, not even the automatic answer.

In my opinion this action by Skype is a total and utter disgrace and need a very serious rethink on how it MUST be improved or even scrapped and a new system put in its place.

Jira Bug Reporting

Now we come to reporting in the Jira zone which, by the way, I will say is nothing like as complicated as the Support request system. At the moment there are currently 653 unresolved issues outstanding alone. I ask you, what chance do people have of getting their problem solved by Skype via either system; very little by the look of it.

All I can say to this is please come to the Skype forum where you will almost always get an answer to your post on the same day you make it and hopefully a fix, which if you wait for Skype Support who knows when or if anything will happen.

Now we come to the way I think the support structure should be organised. Skype's support structure should consist of one method and one method only be it the Support request ticket or the report to Jira in the development section. Personally I think all requests for support should be made via Jira. That was where all the development was done to produce the product and they are the people who should be able to resolve a large percentage of these issues and know what you are talking about, even if they involve third party applications that have been added to Skype.

Community supporting itself

At the moment neither of these methods are working as they should or maybe not even at all. What are Skype doing about it? Well if you look at the forum as often as I do, which is every day, nothing. It is all down to the moderators, super users and helpers to try and sort out these problems. Why? The only person who makes any attempt at trying to help with these problems is Raul but I am sorry to say that his input on its own is just not enough. We the paying customer need more and expect more. You are very quick to take our money but not to help when it is required.

So, come on, Skype. Let's see some action from all of you that will take some of the strain and frustration away not only from the forum helpers but, more important, the paying customers.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 02:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

BusinessWeek has the skoop. Mobile carrier 3 will offer a Skype branded mobile with the iSkoot app this month. iSkoot confirms a Skype phone will be launched, and iSkoot will be on it. BW puts first ship in the next two to three weeks.

This is an enormous opportunity to extend the Skype brand in in the UK, Italy, Hong Kong, Australia and Hutchison Whampoa's other markets. Unlike apps you download to your phone, or even releases that come preloaded with an icon in the main menu, a "Skype" phone should put the Skype experience front and center.

iSkoot's technical architecture makes this possible. But it's only half-VoIP.

The problems: Skype tried to create complete versions of the Skype client for mobiles. The code Skype came up with burned through data plans, burdened underpowered data networks, and overtaxed most mobile CPUs.

iSkoot gets around these barriers with some clever engineering.

1. iSkoot wrote their own client. This lets them keep it lightweight.

   • The client offers a minimal subset of the Skype for Windows client's features.

     • It starts with a few account services: activate a new skype user, log in, log out, add SkypeOut service and credits.

     • You can see your Skype contact list, add or remove buddies, see their presence, change your own presence.

     • You can Skype chat with emoticons, conference chat, call Skype friends, call SkypeOut numbers and answer Skype calls.

     • A unique feature for iSkoot: templates for quick answers in Skype chats.

   • Downside 1: Things you cannot do with this generation of iSkoot client: anchor a conference call, transfer a call, transfer files, make or answer Skype video calls, participate in Skypecasts. UI only localized for eight languages.

   • Downside 2: No Skype plug-in API for the iSkoot client.

2. The iSkoot client talks to iSkoot servers, not the Skype network. The servers do that for the client.

   • This avoids trying to map Skype's whole p2p architecture over a mobile network.

   • It also lets iSkoot co-locate their servers in a wireless carrier's data center, for better security and uptime.

3. the iSkoot client puts voice calls over the carrier's voice network, unlike Skype.

   • Carriers love this: your Skype calls show up as billable minutes.

   • Your Skype voice call and your regular phone call both travel over the same network until they get to your carrier's switch. The carrier routes your Skype calls to the iSkoot server. The iSkoot server runs a PBX switch which answers the call and bridges them to the Skype network. 

   • Downside 3: iSkoot voice calls are not encrypted on the mobile leg of the call.

   • Downside 4: Audio quality is lower than Skype's standard wideband because the iSkoot client is using a phone's ordinary codecs and microphones. Mobile users may not notice this difference. 

4. the iSkoot client puts all Skype's non-voice traffic over the data network. IM, presence, authentication, etc. This is only a trickle of data, compared to voice or video, so there's little to no stress on a carrier's network. Again, networks love this.

   • Downside 5: Because Skype hasn't shared their encryption algorithms with iSkoot, your Skype chats aren't encrypted, although your login is.

5. iSkoot servers run huge banks of Skype VoIP clients with management software. These servers connect iSkooters to Skype. 

   • The iSkoot server runs a software PBX/switch that answers your phone call and bridges it to a Skype client. The Skype client running in iSkoot's server farm thinks your mobile phone looks like a PC headset, with audio in and out.

   • iSkoot servers talk to the Skype.com server for authentication, logging in to the Skype network as a user.

   • iSkoot servers talk to the Skype cloud for chats, presence, and other operations (made possible by Skype's client APIs).

   • iSkoot servers talk to Skype's gateway services, SkypeIn and SkypeOut

Who benefits?

• iSkoot makes its money by revenue sharing from mobile carriers, at least for now.

• Carriers sell more data plans but use them only a little more, and increase billable minute sales, without promoting scary Wi-Fi. These are

• Skype shows up in more people's lives more of the time, without rebuilding for Symbian 60, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, UIQ, Palm, or J2ME platforms.

• Skypers get the 90% of the essential Skype experience: contact lists for dialing, time savings of presence 1.0, collaboration in group chats.

• Handset device makers, like Sony Ericsson and Nokia, can offer new flavors of 

What's ahead? Informed speculation:

• iSkoot's product map plays catch up with the Skype client.

• iSkoot is talking to other live "community providers" like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL and others about providing similar service to them. Some of those conversations are coming on strong. This answers the question "Why hasn't Skype bought iSkoot?"

• iSkoot and Skype are negotiating with carriers to bring Skype/iSkoot phones to Canada, the US, and other major markets.

• Innovation around device integration. I expect to see Skype and native phone address books sync'd up, GPS enabled phones to share geopresence with Skype buddies.

• PayPal services. 

Concerns, first raised by Stuart Henshall in March 2006:

• Trust. You are giving a third-party access to your Skype login, Skype credits, address book, presence, communication history, chat history, voice mails. How much do you trust iSkoot's owners, managers, and employees? How much do you trust the phone companies hosting iSkoot servers? In which country are your legal protections?

• Emergency Services. Callers are more likely to Skype 911 (or other emergency numbers) as Skype looks more like a mobile phone. You don't want to hear "I'm sorry, you cannot dial that number" or "You are out of Skype credits. Please authorize a PayPal transfer now."

Posted by Phil Wolff at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

At today's eBay earnings conference call with analysts, eBay CEO Meg Whitman reported with respect to Skype:

• Higher revenues and ongoing operating profitability for Skype in Q3
• Less pleased with user metrics: flat (SkypeOut) or declining (Skype) usage minutes
• Earnout placed the wrong incentives on how Skype should grow its business
• Not enough focus on "Delight the User"
• Confidence in Skype as a long term investment
• New CEO search has generated strong interest from candidates both inside and outside eBay, largely due to the Skype brand

The Earnout's Consequences

In response to questioning from an analyst, Meg responded that the earnout effectively placed focus on meeting revenue and gross profit objectives at the expense of attracting and engaging users. Her summary statement: "we tried to monetize Skype too early", especially when Skype's original value proposition was "you can talk for free". She specifically mentioned user interfaces and customer support as areas that had suffered as a result of the earnout focus; in addition, profits at Skype had actually exceeded their original 2007 business plan. But they had dropped too much profitability to the bottom line instead of focusing on using their unexpected profits in 2007 to drive early user engagement through additional investments in marketing and customer support.

She certainly expressed relief that eliminating the earnout meant they could move forward by doing the things that are really required to build the business such as improving the user experience, driving user adoption and developing new products and features.

Personally my observation with earnouts is that they fail to create the win-win situation all parties think they are heading towards at the time of an acquisition. The goals in earnouts tend to defocus from the goals needed to truly build a business and create disincentives to innovation and team building somewhere along the line. My speculation: a big part of Skype's problems probably can be tied to the fact very few internal employees, especially at the management level, had any direct interest in the earnout. Yet I have to say that Skype employees I have met are self-motivated by knowing that they can make a difference in their users' lives through inexpensive real time conversations.

Going Forward

While my Skype Primer series has provided significant background on where Skype is today, going forward Skype has three key assets:

• Strong brand recognition
• Significant new product development and partner relationships
• A very keen, enthusiastic employee base

I have found these three factors have been the foundation for successful reorganizations in the past; ineffective baggage has been discarded; the new CEO can start with a clean slate. Analysts are more interested in knowing that processes, such as eBay's annual strategic planning exercise over the summer, were in place to facilitate the decision to make changes as opposed to arbitrary, irrational decision making. The challenge now is for eBay's board to select the right CEO.

Earlier Meg had stated the overall objectives for Skype going forward would include:

• Prioritize resources
• Refocus the team
• Ensure Skype users will continue to enjoy and benefit from "this great technology"
• Renew efforts at finding synergy with eBay and PayPal
• Make Skype available across many platforms (such as MySpaceIM)

As for eBay's divesting its interest in Skype, forget it. Get ready for the ride.... may the incentives and atmosphere for innovation at Skype be restored.

Posted by Jim Courtney at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

After listening to the 2007 Q3 eBay investor's conference call...

Start with a Skypeku:

Users calling less
losing traction for a year
Skype's mojo falling

From 9.1 to 7.5 billion minutes per quarter, an 18% drop of 1.6 billion minutes this year.

Another Skypeku:

Ghostly Skype accounts
dilute per capita stats
how many active?

Skype's "number of user accounts" include accounts of dead people, abandoned accounts, space aliens, defections. 

"Simultaneous accounts connected to the Skype network" is more meaningful, closer to "active user accounts." Out of everything, simultaneous online is the only metric that seems to be improving. And this last million of growth is the slowest since the first million.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier today, as confirmed to me by a couple of Contacts, and more recently by Skype PR, Skype, for the first time passed 10 million users concurrently online. That's about seven (7) Estonias or almost the combined population of Estonia and Sweden.

What has been also noticeable the past couple of weeks is that this number remains above 9 million well into the North American Eastern time zone afternoon. The count on the right was captured at 1408h EDT (1808 GMT) today.

In a few hours we will see the third quarter results for eBay with the limited information regularly provided about Skype. We can easily speculate that there will be over 240 million Skype accounts registered but we also know these accounts go stale over time (especially now that Skype is over four years old); there are multiple accounts for a single user, along with other reasons to question the actual number of active accounts.

At this point it would be most helpful to analysts and shareholders if eBay would divulge Skype numbers along the lines of what is revealed by the legacy telcos, such as number of Skype users who actually made at least one call during the past quarter, number of subscribers to revenue services, such as SkypeIn/SkypeOut/Voice Mail, Unlimted North American Calling and SkypePro, and % of revenue that comes from each of communications services, hardware royalties and software-related revenues (licensing and royalties).

Skype is playing with the big boys in terms of usage; time to play with them in terms of reporting. Rather than providing information which, in any event, would be of minimum value to competitors, of overriding importance is that providing these numbers could be a stimulus to increased usage, especially in the small-to-medium business sector.

And, at 1437 EDT, there are still 9,673,000 online.

Tags: Skype, eBay

Posted by Jim Courtney at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

They are announcing "MySpaceIM with Skype" beta tomorrow so here's the first look.

1. Skype's engine will power voice calls inside the new MySpaceIM client 
2. Shipping in November 2007
3. Windows only 
4. A MySpaceIM with Skype user can now Skype a Skype user without downloading Skype's client 
5. Skype presence will show for Skype contacts
6. Voice calls will be encrypted just like Skype calls
7. Privacy logic using MySpace friend lists affect who can call you, the same way they affect who can IM you
8. You can buy Skype's premium calling features (SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Call Forwarding, and Voice Mail) for your MySpaceIM client
9. You don't need the Skype client for the voice calls.
10. You will need it for Skype's conference calling, video calls, Skype chat, multi chats, public chats, Skypecasts, Skype Prime, and secure file transfer features
11. One MySpace profile maps to One Skype profile 
12. MySpace is promoting MySpaceIM in the control panel

Observations:

• Social media are becoming more Real Time and Real Time Media are becoming more Social (as we've been saying here on Skype Journal for years)
• Web based social networks provide triggers for conversation, and new Call Me buttons should make it much easier to act on that impulse
• MySpace will benefit from Skype's worldwide network, and Skype will benefit from MySpace's strong US presence
• Skype will benefit as people upgrade to richer Skype clients, and all premium features that live there
• As Mark Hendrikson notes, this is the first time we've seen Skype Inside another company's software

News release below...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MYSPACE AND SKYPE ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP BRINGING FREE INTERNET VOICE COMMUNICATIONS TO MYSPACE GLOBAL COMMUNITY

Partnership Creates World’s Largest Online Voice-Connected Community

Beta Version of ‘MySpaceIM with Skype’ Announced Today

LOS ANGELES/LUXEMBOURG, October 17, 2007 — MySpace, the world’s most popular social network, and Skype, the leading Internet communications company, today announced a partnership to empower the MySpace community with voice communications. With more than 110 million monthly active MySpace users and 220 million Skype™ registered users around the world, this partnership connects two of the most popular communications platforms on the Internet to create the world’s largest online, voice-connected community.

The announcement unveils MySpaceIM with Skype, a new product that integrates MySpace’s popular IM client—currently the world’s fastest-growing IM platform with more than 25 million installed users—with Skype’s free, high-quality voice-calling capability. The partnership will also enable users to link their MySpace profiles and photos or avatars to their accounts on Skype. Both products will be available to users starting in November.

Launching in 20 countries where MySpace has localized communities, MySpaceIM with Skype will enable millions of users to place free Skype Internet calls to other MySpace or Skype users. The addition of Skype voice-calling to MySpace’s instant messaging feature gives users more ways to easily connect with friends and family around the world, and does not require MySpace users to download any additional Skype software.

“MySpaceIM with Skype is a truly groundbreaking product integration and partnership,” said Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of MySpace. “Skype has the leading technology in
Internet voice communications and an enormous international user base that we’re thrilled to connect with our existing community. Our network has no geographical boundaries—Internet calling is the natural next step for how our members communicate with each other.”

Skype is available in 28 languages and is used in almost every country around the world. The ability for Skype users to link their Skype accounts to their MySpace profiles will be available globally, except in Japan, China and Taiwan. In addition to free, high-quality Skype calling, MySpaceIM with Skype will also allow the users of the MySpace network to optionally select Skype’s premium fee-based products, including:

• SkypeOut™ – To make calls to landlines and cell phones domestically or internationally;
• SkypeIn™ – A local phone number to receive calls wherever you are in the world from other people on landlines or cell phones;
• Voicemail – To take voice messages when you’re busy or offline; and
• Call forwarding – To redirect incoming Skype calls to a landline or cell phone.

“Both MySpace and Skype have become a part of people’s lives by bringing people closer together, no matter where they live in the world. This partnership reiterates that Skype is the platform of choice for Internet communications because we make it simpler and easier for people to place free calls to one another whether they are on Skype or within the MySpace network,” said Michael Van Swaaij, interim CEO of Skype.

MySpaceIM with Skype takes advantage of the many personal privacy settings available to users throughout the MySpace network. Users who have a MySpace profile set to “private” can not receive a Skype call from someone who is not on their friends list. Users can also choose to allow only those individuals they have affirmatively added to their Skype personal contact list to call them. Users are empowered to block any MySpaceIM with Skype user at any time, and with the “incoming call window” users can pre-screen incoming callers in order to accept, ignore, or block the call.

Financial terms of the MySpace and Skype deal were not disclosed.

About MySpace

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views(c), MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace's international network includes localized community sites in the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Latin America, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the United Kingdom. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX:NWS, NWSLV).

*Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, September 2007. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to http://www.comscore.com.

About Skype

Skype sets conversations free by providing new and easy ways to stay in touch over the Internet. Millions of people every day make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages using our software. Some pay a little per minute for long-distance and international calls to phones and mobiles and for SMS, voicemail and call forwarding, or they buy subscriptions that give unlimited calls nationwide. We certify and sell hundreds of hardware products from more than 50 partners and work with third-party developers to create software to extend Skype's functionality. Skype has been downloaded more than half a billion times and over 220 million people from almost every corner of the globe have registered. Make your world a smaller place: talk, share and do more with Skype.

Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY), and you can learn more and get Skype at

www.skype.com.

Access to a broadband Internet connection is required for Skype and all Skype Certified devices and accessories. Skype is not a replacement for your traditional telephone service and cannot be used for emergency calling.

Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Me, Skype Certified, Skypecasts, associated logos and the “S” symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.

# # #

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This is the fourth post in a series summarizing the current state of Skype's ecosystem and providing a perspective on the assets in place for a new CEO to run with.

Getting to the Present

Alec Saunders' Voice 2.0 Manifesto talks about Applications as the value creators in a Voice 2.0 world. Once again Skype differentiates itself through a two-year-old Skype Developer Partner program as evidenced by Skype's Extras Gallery. But getting to this point was not easy; in fact:

• Developer Partners had to be true entrepreneurs who kept their vision of a value-generating application above all the obstacles encountered in not only developing their offering but also in initially marketing it. Close communication with many players at Skype was a key to resolving many issues.
  
• Skype needed to develop experience with all the subtleties of a developer program from building a roadmap and a viable API set to communicating where Skype would play and where they would let their Partners play in the overall market space.
  
• Skype's API set has evolved over time to the point where only over the past summer, as evidenced through the Skype Mashup competition, it provides a more complete set of developer tools, including many, such as Call Transfer, that have been clamored for by developers. (But Skype is by no means finished yet with delivering API's.)
  
• Skype has also developed a publishing platform, Publishing Studio, that lets developers focus on their application while providing the infrastructure to bring the application to market and generate transactions associated with the application
  
• To provide standards for quality assurance, Skype is in the process of certifying its partners' software applications.

The Voice 2.0 Challenge

The Voice 2.0 Manifesto talks about three flavors of applications:

• Voice applications such as conferencing, enhanced voice mail, audio hosting.
  
• Voice enabled IT applications: collaboration tools, Salesforce.com, Outlook integration, call centers -- all designed to assist the knowledge worker
  
• The voice web: mashup of voice and the Internet. Here the combination of voice and web services offers the greatest opportunities. From the Voice 2.0 Manifesto: "Examples include: spoken word real estate descriptions from the MLS coupled with mapping, voice enabled matchmaker services, customer service coupled with inventory / ordering / availability. The mix of text, web, voice, and programmatic access to data is a heady brew."

To date we have seen several offerings in the first two categories with initial steps taken, such as with PamFax, into the last category. However, this category's true potential will only be realized when web services API's are incorporated into the Skype API set. (The first one is on their recently released roadmap.) One other challenge for the SDP is to extend this program from Windows to the Mac platform.

Skype Publisher Studio

In the course of judging for the Skype Mashup Competition and checking out some newer Skype Extras, it became apparent why the Skype Publishing Studio is a valuable asset and differentiator, not only for Skype but also for, especially, the Skype Developer Partners:

• provides complete install/uninstall infrastructure
• includes Digital Rights Management that allows the publisher to determine the licensing terms for the software including free trials and offerings; tolled, monthly or annual subscriptions, etc.
• connects to a transaction processor that provides mechanisms for payments via Skype Credtis, which, in turn, can be purchased via PayPal or a credit card.

Basically the Publisher Studio relieves Extras publishers of the need to worry about overhead that would be common to them all and allowing them to focus all their resources on the actual value-creating application. Along with the Publishing Stuido, the Skype Developer program is requiring adherence to standards for usability, robustness and overall quality assurance through the Skype Software Certification program.

PamFax, worldwide winner of the recent Skype Mashup competition, demonstrates the full power of the Publishing Studio through its use of all features, including transaction handling. My quote to the Share Skype blog post about PamFax's award:

“As I judge I found many excellent entries that demonstrate the value of various aspects of the Skype ecosystem. However, the winners have gone beyond the normal “just add Skype” and taken a broader advantage of the entire Skype ecosystem to turn their Skype Extra into a full business opportunity. For instance, PamFax demonstrates that the Skype Extra program not only provides API’s into Skype but also provides a flexible set of licensing terms and a unique means to quickly collect revenues via the Skype Extras transaction engine.”

Essential Reading: Phil's post yesterday (Russell Shaw also thought so): Why Skype and Vonage Must Live:

Skype is still evolving how to work in the hundreds of network and compute environments in hundreds of millions of situations. Those situations are challenging and evolving on their own. How you cross firewalls, scale p2p, and adapt streams for mobile conditions aren't ready to be locked down.

Bottom line: Along with Skype's provision of a complete suite of real time conversation tools, the Skype Developer Partner program is the other big differentiator from other "VoIP" services. This program:

• positions Skype outside the traditional "legacy telephony replacement" space
• opens up significant sustainable revenue generation opportunities for both Skype and its Developer Partners
• brings reduced communications costs and increased productivity to its business users

And somebody must like these Extras: over 21 million downloads. Another success story: WebDialogs (publisher of Unyte) recently became a division of IBM's Lotus SameTime Group.

Reference posts:

• Unyte's Tale: Pioneering and Persevering as a Skype SDP
• On Being a Skype Software Business Solution Partner
• A Banner Day for Skype Development Program
• Desktop Collaboration: The Skype Ecosystem Expands
• Skype Partners Answer Jeff's Challenge for Innovation in Voice Services
• The Dawn of the Mashup World: - Part I: Challenges, Why and Expectations

Business Solutions Extras:

• Voice Recording and Archiving Applications: Pamela, Skylook
• Voice Services: Evoca, HighSpeed Conferencing.com.
• Call Center: OnState ACD for Skype
• Collaboration: Convenos, Unyte Yugma Skype
• Animation: Crazy Talk
• Miscellaneous Utilities: MyToGo, PamFax

For Skype Journal posts on these Partners, enter the Partner's name into Skype Journal's Search box and you will get a list of all posts related to that Partner. The complete set of Skype Extras, including games, entertainment and personalization Extras, can be found here or by going to Tools | Do More | Get Extras on the Skype for Windows client.

Other posts in this Skype Primer Series

• A Backgrounder
• Enabling Real Time Communications
• Skype Hardware - If and When Available

Tags: Skype, Voice 2.0 Manifesto, Skype API, Skype Extras, Skype Developer Partner Program, Skype Publishing Studio, Pamela, Skylook, Evoca, HighSpeedConferencing.com, OnState ACD for Skype, Convenos, Unyte, Yugma, Crazy Talk, MyToGo, PamFax, Phil Wolff, Russell Shaw

Posted by Jim Courtney at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently found on the tailgate of a contractor's truck in my neighborhood:

When you really need a charge.... 12V --> 110V --> ~6V ... and, no, there is no timer involved here ... he's simply clocking time on the job. (Canadians will recognize the Eliminator Booster Power Pack from Canadian Tire.)

Posted by Jim Courtney at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Just three days ago I wrote an update post about Skype on mobile; since then lots of blog post activity about the evolution of lower cost mobile calling, including some that is free. Key players in this post: iSkoot, Truphone, Skype and 3, Rogers and, if you read to the end, learn about the newest Blackberry addiction.

iSkoot: From (Blackberry) mobile to Skype or SkypeOut

I have written about iSkoot previously but my update post referenced above did not include iSkoot because I had not been able to log into their beta offering for the past few weeks. I was finally able to get back on this past Friday (two days ago); they have a revamped interface and all the Skype IM and calling features are back. So while on the road Friday afternoon (actually while in a parking lot for safety reasons) I set up, on my Blackberry 8820, a mobile call to Ottawa (from Toronto) via iSkoot. Very simple,

• for Skype contacts, simply find the contact,
• check that the contact is Online,
• click for the Menu, select Call

and a call is made to the Contact's Skype location. It is a callback algorithm (in my case from a local Toronto number) but the call set up time is about the same time as for setting up a standard Skype call from a PC and you get a message about a call's progress. For SkypeOut calls,

• go to the iSkoot's "SkypeOut" window;
• if the number is in your SkypeOut Contacts, click for the Menu, select Call
• if the number you wish to call is not in your SkypeOut Contacts, click for the Menu
  • select SkypeOut, enter the number with country code, click the Call button.

I have made test calls to both Skype and SkypeOut Contacts with excellent call quality. Bottom line for costs beyond my carrier calling plan arrangements: free to SkypeContacts, SkypeOut costs to SkypeOut contacts (for me, free to North America since I have Unlimited North American calling). The only feature lacking is linking the SkypeOut number request to the Blackberry's address book.

Truphone announces new pricing:

Truphone has announced free calling to landlines in 40 countries as well as mobile in North America (until December 31, 2007) along with reduced costs for calls to mobile outside North America. Comparing their new mobile rates with Skype's mobile rates shows +/- 15% cost variations by country but Truphone has no connection charges. For instance, calls to German mobile phones are £0.15 on Truphone while £0.12 to £0.14 per minute on Skype; calls to Estonia mobile phones are £0.15 on Truphone while £0.16 per minute on Skype. Not quite a race to the bottom -- yet!

Skype rumored to be expanding 3 activity in U.K.

According to a story in yesterday's Times Online, it appears that Skype and 3, a 3G mobile operator and Skype partner, are about to announce a new deal

... to enable users of a new Skype/3 branded phone unlimited free calls to each other. 3 hopes that the service, which works by sending the calls as data over the internet, will help to lure customers. As the “challenger” mobile operator, it is seeking to stand out in Britain’s fiercely competitive mobile market.

And the story goes on to talk about iPhone's entry into the U.K. market and the prospects of a Google mobile play that could siphon off mobile advertising revenues from the legacy wireless carriers:

..... The developments, according to analysts, are a frightening prospect for the mobile operators, which are seeing their long-established business models completely disrupted.

.... While the motivation of the different internet players varies, the bottom line is the same, Mr Wood said. “It is simple; the mobile is the most prolific consumer electronics device on the planet – over one billion will be sold this year – and everyone wants their brand to be there.”

Rogers Great Canadian Revenue Sustenance Dilemma

Canada is not the most inexpensive country for mobile data plans. In fact, recently it was shown that 500MB per month on Rogers would cost $1,600. So Canadians can tend to be frugal with their data plan usage. Key point here is that Rogers is the only GSM wireless service provider in Canada; according to my microeconomics prof's definition one would say they have a monopoly on GSM-specific wireless services. It also means that they are the only service provider to benefit from providing roaming services to visitors from any country with GSM services and they can effectively be a gatekeeper for the introduction of GSM-enabled devices into the Canadian market -- which includes iPhone and any new Blackberry devices since Blackberry always introduces GSM versions a few months ahead of any other protocol support.

But they are being challenged on several fronts:

• iPhone, where Rogers says they are ready but Canada is not a big enough market for Apple to support a launch here yet; but also where Apple looks for relatively low cost unlimited data plans
  
• UMA/GAN on Blackberry 8x20 devices where, as Andy is reporting here, and here, that his T-Mobile @ Home service on the 8320 is providing him very low cost calling not only at Starbucks and at his WiFi-enabled home office in the U.S. but also as he travels through U.K., France and Spain. Rogers is a participant in the Canadian Hotspot Network and needs to see usage volumes increase; UMA/GAN would help drive this but at what cost to their GSM voice services? Will Rogers introduce the 8820 into Canada and, at the same time, support UMA/GAN?
  
• Bell Canada, which is struggling to build any reasonable wireless market share these days, has introduced an unlimited data plan (and is advertising it heavily) but it comes with restrictions, such as not using it for heavy duty file transfer, downloading music or movies, or VoIP services (athough the network used probably could not provide adequate VoIP capability in any event). Creates lots of debate as to what is meant by 'unlimited".

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few months and whether Canadians can expect data plans with the costs and service levels seen in the U.S. and Europe. More discussion at Blognation Canada.

Is the newest Blackberry addiction spreading across your pants?

With all this Skype IM activity on a Blackberry, you can start to get a lot of Blackberry vibrations -- a buzz for every IM message received. Has it the potential to become a phantom addiction? Check out Decoding those Blackberry "phonetoms"; seems like there's a new Blackberry virus spreading:

Long considered compulsive by the rest of us, BlackBerry addicts are now questioning their sanity after experiencing "phantom vibrations" – or "phonetoms" as one user dubbed the mysterious syndrome – from their beloved wireless email devices.

Reports faux buzzes to Gizmodo.

Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams offered up the best quote on the sort-of phenomenon, saying, "So far, the only good news is that my pocket is vibrating, and that's OK because it gives me hope that the condition might spread to the rest of my pants."

As a physicist I recall the quantum unit of light is the photon; the quantum unit of sound is phonon; I guess a phonetom is a quantized mode of vibration perceived by the neurons of Crackberry addicts. To every buzz a phonetom.

Tags: Skype, Skype Mobile, iSkoot, 3, Hutchison, Truphone, Rogers, Blognation Canada, Blackberry, phonetoms

Posted by Jim Courtney at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Or why Mark Gibbs is wrong when he says quality, support and integration issues hamper these 'closed' technologies.

Mark, interop happens when each party has an abiding interest in it.

Consider IM interop.

AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo only opened their messaging protocols part way. No interop on animation, file transfer, voice chat, webcam chats, conferencing, emoticons and variations on super-duper-emoticons, mood and presence messages, etc. Only the most basic of text message exchange.

Why the limitations? Because text interop is a commodity and the rest still have economic value. Interop for a commodity feature builds network effects without giving up capabilities that distinguish your community's identity.

Standards freeze innovation, for good or ill. VoIM (Voice over Instant Messaging like Skype) is still new. Skype is still evolving how to work in the hundreds of network and compute environments in hundreds of millions of situations. Those situations are challenging and evolving on their own. How you cross firewalls, scale p2p, and adapt streams for mobile conditions aren't ready to be locked down.

Like Microsoft, Skype opened up to third parties by publishing protocols. You can write your own voice mail client in an hour. Skype has APIs for presence, IM, voice and video calls, voice messaging, billing, and call routing. Skype has a budding developer community, mashup contests and free wrappers and other tools for programmers. Skype even publishes a high-level working API roadmap. It's still early, Skype's not done. And Skype is far from closed, Mark.

P.S. My first thought for a title was "Why Mark Gibbs must die" but I'm sure he's much too nice a guy for that sort of linkbait.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

RIP ETel. Conceived in the wake of Skype's multibillion liquidation event, O'Reilly Media's Emerging Telephony conference drew more than 1000 attendees but not enough paying, not enough sponsorship.

Let's blame the decision on raised expectations and changed focus instead of money. How do you nurture smaller events like ETel after the amazing success of the Web 2.0 summit, Web 2.0 expo, the heat around facebook and social network interoperability?  O'Reilly's managers are into other things these days.

If I were to rebrand or refocus the community, I would point it to the rise of the Live Social Network, the point where live communication (IM, VoIM, Mobiles) become more social while the asynchronous (social networks, blogosphere, applications) become more real time.

ETel was growing into a trusted thought leadership property to rival the exclusive and expensive foocamp, TED, and PopTech. The trillion dollar communications business has no other event that routinely brings out revolutionaries, stimulates debate, elevates thought leadership, reveals stealthy blockbusters, and give great hallway. All without vendors buying stage time.

How can we continue the ETel community and spirit? Stay tuned for news about a new event. If you'd like to speak, sponsor or host, email editor at SkypeJournal dot com or Skype me.

[UPDATE]

See also:

• Dan York 
• Luca Filigheddu - was going, now won't
• Bruce Stewart - winding down the Emerging Telephony blog
• Alec Saunders - follow up on facebook
• David Isenberg - "Thus ends one of the best meetings in the field"
• Erik Lagerway - virtual conference?
• Lee Dryuburgh - history and next steps

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Interesting post here from Andy Abramson at VoIP Watch who is currently visiting the U.K. and France and finding improved call quality for his Skype calls: Are Skype Calls Getting Better? Is Gizmo Getting Worst? (Typos corrected, etc.)

According to some friends in the business Skype has made massive changes to their codecs since hiring some folks and weaning away GIPS with more of a home brew approach. Over the past week my experience with Skype here in France and in London was far better than what I was used to seeing. As a matter of fact the quality has reached the level that {previously} made me more fond of GizmoProject, which lately seems to be having issues that it has also had before.

....

Skype is working around those issues and continues to have the best NAT traversal technology around and that's keeping my calling back to the USA costs way, way down.

This is the sort of improvement that only comes with experience and a lot of trial and error. The Skype efforts at improving call quality are starting to be noticed by one of their most critical users.

• Skype 3.2 Sets New Standard for Sound Quality

Update: Alec Saunders also says Skype Calls ARE Getting Better. As for Skype plug-ins, Firefox is my primary browser and the Skype plug-in works perfectly; I have all but given up on IE7 due to several issues when bringing up websites. Use the Firefox extensions IETab and IEView for those sites that require Internet Explorer. One of the tests for some of the Skype Extras is to check that, where a browser is involved, they work with both IE and Firefox

Tags: Skype, Andy Abramson, VoIP Watch, Skype Call Quality

Posted by Jim Courtney at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the past few weeks on various group chats and forums I see several questions asking about using Skype on Mobile Devices: Blackberry, Nokia N-series, iPhone and standard "T9" keyboard phones. So here's for a summary:

IM+ for Skype: provides the most complete Skype experience (voice, chat and conference calls) for Blackberry, Nokia N-Series phones (those with WiFi or 3G using Symbian S60 v.3) and iPhone. While it will set up calls using your native mobile phone as your "calling phone"; you can also designate additional "Locations" (or personal phone numbers) to act as your "calling" number for a call. Because of this feature, IM+ for Skype, iPhone version will also work on the new iTouch where you can have chat sessions on the device but need to use a third party phone as your "calling" phone.

MyToGo provides the ability to make voice calls from three designated numbers (usually mobile, home and office) back to your SkypeIn number. You can then either directly request that the call be transferred to one of your Skype Contacts (by assigned Skype speed dial number) using Skype or SkypeOut with the appropriate charges. Carrier charges for calling to your SkypeIn number may apply depending on your carrier plan. In addition via SkypeOut you can call any PSTN telephone number via the dialpad on your phone. Note that MyToGo can also be accessed as a Skype Extra: [Tools | Do More | Get Extras | Remote Access ]

Mobivox provides a service that allows you to call your Skype contacts from any phone, whether landline or mobile. Mobivox has established 386 points-of-presence in 38 countries. Initially you need to register your mobile phone number on Mobivox; you can then establish a Mobivox Address Book by synchronizing with your Skype Contacts (every time you log into the Mobivox website), or importing your Outlook and/or GMail contacts.

Call the local PoP from any phone (mobile or landline), tell the VoxGirl whom you would like to call. If the other party is also on Mobivox or is on Skype, the call is a free call (unless there is a charge to reach the local PoP). For calls to the PSTN toll charges apply. For locations without a Mobivox PoP, an SMS or Web Call Back service is available.

For Windows Mobile Phones that get network access via either WiFi or 3G networks, there is also Skype for Windows Mobile.

Previous Posts (beyond those linked above):

• IM+ for Skype Receives Skype Certification
• Security, Skype and the Blackberry
• Skype and VoIP on Mobile Platforms - An Update Summary (27 July 07)
• Skype on the Blackberry - A New Era in the AlwaysOn World
  (Did I see a preview to this year's World Series here?)

Tags: Skype, Skype Mobile, IM+ for Skype, MyToGo, Mobivox, Skype Mobile for Windows

Posted by Jim Courtney at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When I first became involved with Skype Journal 18 months ago, I was impressed with some of the Skype phones that could be used as a PC peripheral while running Skype. Most notable were the VoIPvoice phones and hardware that let me emulate using a standard (speaker) phone while making Skype calls. In fact the VoIPvoice UConnect allowed me to use my 13-year old Nortel M9417 phone for both Skype and PSTN (landline) calls using the same software as used for their own VoIPvoice phones.

Included in the hardware category are several headsets, speakerphones, webcams and other hardware designed to work with Skype as a PC peripheral.

Over the past few months I have received for review, courtesy of the various hardware manufacturers, a wide range of Skype phones. While there are many models that can be used with Skype on the PC, the most interesting are the more recently released Skype "PC-Free" phones. Well engineered, easy to install and ergonomically similar to a standard 12-key keypad phone set, these phones are a hidden gem in Skype's technology asset base.

They plug directly into a router or Ethernet switch en route to a broadband Internet connection; as a result there is no PC software to install and configure. Setup usually involves entering the time and date as well as providing your Skype sign-in information. The biggest installation problem I have encountered with the dual mode versions is having the Ethernet jack and RJ-11 phone jack on opposite walls of a room. One of the biggest benefits is that concurrent Windows operations - especially Outlook email downloads --do not interfere with Skype calls.

To the average user, these phones appear and operate like regular phones. Pick up the receiver, dial a number and the phone call is completed. The underlying connection technology is essentially transparent to the end user. With the dual mode (Skype and PSTN) PC-Free phones you may have to also select whether you want the call to go out over SkypeOut or a landline.

Yet, these phones are loaded with features to take advantage of Skype: an Address Book listing all your Skype (and registered SkypeOut) Contacts; presence information, call history, voice mail capture and playback, call forwarding. You can Add Contacts, check the status of your various Skype accounts (Skype Credits, SkypeIn and Voice Mail), change ringtones, manage privacy settings and perform many other Skype functions from these phones. The two key missing features are lack of any text messaging capability and the absence of a webcam for video calls. You can perform firmware updates; I have encountered a few minor glitches but nothing that stops me from making phone calls.

But here is the issue: availability of these phones and the other Skype hardware for retail purchase is, at best, all but non-existent. In Europe In Store Solutions, partnering with Think Extra, has taken the entrepreneurial initiative and developed their own merchandising and distribution strategy for the European market. But in the U.S. you can may find some of the hardware in WalMart locations, the most reliable source is the Skype Store itself (restricted to U.S. residents only). The ultimate irony is that some of these phones are manufactured by a company with headquarters and engineering in Canada but none of them are available via any channel in Canada, even via the Skype Store. (Note that the actual manufacturing of virtually all Skype hardware occurs in southeast Asia).

Having been involved for several years in the hardware distribution channel, the formula is not that difficult:

• Skype, as the real time conversations service provider and royalty recipient from the hardware vendors, not only needs to set the engineering standards for these phones, in particular via the firmware (and they do this quite well), but also needs to execute a significant "Skype Sanctioned" marketing campaign to generate awareness and "pull" (à la "Intel Inside" for PC's).
• At the same time hardware vendors, many of whom already have distributor relationships, need to incorporate standard distribution marketing practices, such as market development funds and appropriate promotional packaging, into their cost models as the hardware vendor is ultimately responsible for the "push".

These criteria apply even in these days of electronic purchasing via e-commerce sites.

With the proliferation of mobile phones, especially mobile smartphones, we are seeing new scenarios for having mobile take over the home phone market. However, there will continue to be a role for fixed landline phones in the home. Most homes have multiple phone sets -- all attached to one number -- not a configuration that is especially handy if one goes mobile where only one device is connected to a number. On the other hand WiFi-enabled mobile phones and call transfer functionality may change that general algorithm. (Not to overlook the call quality issues of mobile vs Skype also.) One of Skype's challenges going forward will be to determine how they want to play in both the mobile and fixed phone market. (As long as I see large inventories of landline phones at Costco, Staples and Best Buy, we know the market for landline phones is not going away in the near future.) These Skype PC-Free phones certainly represent well Skype's opportunity to participate in this market segment.

In summary, Skype PC-Free phones, provide the most transparent and seamless path for migrating consumers to Skype - especially the dual mode phones. Skype's new CEO will have to tackle head-on the problems of hardware's role in both the real time conversation space and hardware distribution. With appropriate marketing and distribution that can generate sales in the millions of units per year, Skype hardware can become one of Skype's more significant revenue streams.

(Vendors of the Skype PC-Free phones include Topcom (whose WebT@lker 5000 is shown above), Philips, RTX Dualphone, GE, Linksys, Netgear and Ipevo.)

Other posts in this series

• A Backgrounder
• Enabling Real Time Communications
• Skype's Extras Gallery and Developer Partner Program

Tags: Skype, Skype Hardware, VoIPvoice, PC-Free Phones, Topcom, Philips, Dualphone, GE, Linksys, Netgear, Ipevo, In Store Solutions, Think Extra

Posted by Jim Courtney at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Presence is the new anchor, the point of interoperability. It is becoming the unifying interface, your dashboard, for managing your widespread onlife.

Google will build Jaiku into:

1. Google Talk
   • will become the Jaiku client
     • mood messages on steroids
2. GrandCentral telephony
   • so your jaiku rings
     • when someone calls and
       • your call history is blended with your jaiku stream
3. Google Groups
   • for collective presence that builds on Jaiku channels
4. Maps
   • aggregating presence visually
5. Google Docs
   • your colleague just updated her presentation
6. Orkut 2.0
   • highest traffic'd site in the google family
7. Feedburner
   • run the Jaiku feeds you publish
     through Google's RSS management tool
     to see statistics on readership
8. Google Reader
   • adding immediacy to your inbox
     what else are the people who posted to this blog doing/saying
9. YouTube, Google Video, Google Photos
   • your friends' new pics/vids/vlogs
10. Google Mobile
    • so you're never without it
11. Google Desktop widgets
    • for better social peripheral vision

Jaiku will be central to Google's office and enterprise appeal. It's how distributed teams will stay in touch, a new watercooler.

The Jaiku team's doing the usual stuff for the next two months: migrating to Google server farms, migrating user IDs to Google's identity namespace and auth services, moving offices, buying new cars.

Congratulations!

p.s. Given the timing, I wonder what Jaiku's founders might ask Niklas in these early weeks after the sale?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

jaiku cashes out
infectious social presence
joins the Google clan

Here are two Skype Journal exclusive video interviews with Jyri Engestrom.

In the first video Jyri dives into microblogging's meaning and social behavior, and the future of Jaiku.

• You have a new product. What's it called?
• What's microblogging?
• How does it feel different than blogging?
• Who reads that stuff?
• In blogging terms its sort of conversation fodder or blog fodder or link bait? You're trying to trigger conversations with other people that are interested in the same things you are, which might be you or the things you're paying attention to?
• So multiple people can post to the same topic stream. But in the process not see the day to day posts?
• What do you call the entries?
• Where do you see Jaiku going in the next year?
• So you're not writing for history any more, with all the burden that goes with that. You're writing for the moment?

In the second interview, Jyri explores presence.

• What does presence mean to you?
• How is presence different now, in June 2007, than it was a year ago?
• The sources for presence information are mostly from Jaiku itself. Are you looking at other sources for presence information?
• Are there any standards that you'd like to see for interop with other presence streams?

 Jyri on the acquisition (via Jaiku, of course):

We're joining Google because we see big potential in what we're doing - potential that we want to realize as services that our Jaiku users love, and other mobile and Internet users too. We're not planning to disappear: you know we use Jaiku to communicate with many of the people that are personally dear to us. While it's too soon to comment on specific products and our development plans, we honestly believe that together with the engineers who we've befriended at Google we can build great new things that we couldn't do alone.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype announced some particulars about the new Skype Approved Integrator (SAI) programme at last week's Skype Developer Program Congress in Tokyo.

Selection Criteria:

• Trusted partners
• Skype Developer Program staff selects
• Development experience
• Expert with Skype APIs
• <5 to begin with, including
• PamConsult GmbH - builders of Pamela, PamFax and Skype for Salesforce
• Ubion - pioneer and leader in the Java Skype community

Programme Process:

• Skype introduces partners to SAIs
• SAIs develop projects

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Click in your browser and your phone rings. Skype needs to offer this relatively stupid, underfeatured stuff. Because this stupid stuff is faster, simpler, and more familiar than Voice Over Instant Messaging.

• Jajah does one simple thing: bridge two phone numbers. It does it brilliantly, letting people trigger calls from phones and web pages. Click-to-call. Easy peezy.

• Lypp does the same sort of thing, but at the programming level, launching conference calls for groups of people in social networks. (Congratulations on the launch, Lypp)

• Truphone works like Jajah, but from hybrid cell/wi-fi mobile phones, routing calls over the Internet when it can.

• Jaduka, like Lypp, rents their phone network connections so anyone can build their own Jaja, Lypp or Truphone. A programming platform for for connecting web apps to the public telephone network, and billing for it.

eBay is no pool of early adopters. Buyers are conditioned for "Victory!" Buyers exhibit the same gamer twitch responses as stock market day traders. Attention spans measured in milliseconds.  

So when buyers have that precious, fleeting impulse to call a seller, you don't want them taking time out to {download, install, register, test your hardware, learn to dial}. A dive into Internet telephony is a complete tangent to on-site buyer goals at eBay.

mock Skype 'call me' button, with apologies to Jajah

So Skype needs a faster way to get virgins to try Skype. To use Skype. To use Skype the Brand.

Skype-the-brand is not Skype-the-technology.

Skype-branding a Jajah-like experience (type in

You can tempt buyers to download/upgrade on the basis of their great "Skype Lite" experience. If the business goal is to help buyers and sellers engage, to foster conversations that lead to category invigoration, then you cannot let your software get in the way.

It comes down to the Skype brand. Does Skype stand for a specific software experience? Or for rich communication, whenever, however you need it?

As for Lypp and Jaduka, can the Skype brand also mean...

"we power the programmers who power conversation"?

Next post: Why hasn't Skype done this yet?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The past week has provided an opportunity for all the nay-sayers and pessimists to say "I told you so". But many bloggers have followed on Jeff Pulver's lead with I Come to Praise Skype, not to Bury Them. Alec Saunders: Stop Wringing Your Hands. Skype is a Huge Success:

No, Skype isn't a failure. By most definitions it's a roaring success. The failure was EBay's when they paid so handsomely for a business that was dedicated to sucking the profits out of a bloated telecom industry. Skype's business plan was to take less money from consumers than a telco would for the same services. What were they expecting? What Skype hasn't done is live up to its potential. The platform which many hoped would emerge from the momentum of Skype — the Voice 2.0 ideal of voice as an element in all applications — appears to have been sublimated to the needs of EBay's balance sheet. The potential for Skype to utterly dominate voice in this new world has not yet been realized.

There's still time. Nobody else has come close to what they've accomplished.

Over the past week I have also spoken with several Skype Partners; they all can only talk about the potential of Skype. I have to say, that due to the entrepreneurship shown by these partners, the Voice 2.0 ideal is being demonstrated in practice. Yes, they may be Skype versions of some legacy applications; however, Skype makes them even more useful and cost effective as applications. Best example: OnState's Call Center virtually eliminates the need for a six figure PBX in order to operate a call center. And it provides an additional mode of communication with its unique chat capabilities. Three collaboration tools (my series will continue later this week); a voice conferencing app that handles up to 500 participants; Skype utilities (Pamela, Skylook) for logging and archiving in depth your Skype activities and a voice hosting service are all contributing to the Voice 2.0 ideal. Paul Amery has done an excellent job of leading the Skype Developer Partner program while recognizing there remains a long road ahead to make it totally successful. The recent Skype Mashup contest demonstrated developer enthusiasm for incorporating Skype services into new applications.

Ken Camp, one of Skype's most frequent critics, in "Comments from the Blogging World on Skype" sums it up with (typos corrected):

Overall, I think the community at large is still waiting to see what happens. There have been times I have not been a fan of Skype at all. That said, I want to see them succeed. I want to see them thrive more than they ever have. And like others, I'm optimistic that under the right leadership, Skype can set the bar far higher than they ever have before.

Thanks, Ken. Enough said....

Now that we are through the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday my Skype Primer series will continue later this week also.

Tags: Skype, Jeff Pulver, Alec Saunders, Ken Camp, Paul Amery, Skype Developer Program, OnState, Pamela, Skylook, Evoca, Convenos, Unyte, Yugma

Posted by Jim Courtney at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Currently I am wirelessly running IM+ for Skype, receiving email, using other Instant Messaging applications and making Facebook entries without using my Rogers (GSM/EDGE) data plan. The introduction of WiFi on the Blackberry 8820 (and Curve 8320) has significant implications for how mobile communications happens, the build out of wireless infrastructure and the cost of mobile data plans. And this week's reporting of quarterly results for RIM show that momentum is building for their entire line of smartphones:

• 1.45 million new subscribers with over 10 million in total (~30% non-enterprise)
• 3 million units shipped, showing a strong "replacement" market.
• revenues and profit doubled from a year ago.
• Over 50% of new subscribers were "non-enterprise" retail clients.

But in a smartphone summary report by Catherine McLean at the Globe and Mail this statement says it all with respect to carriers, data plan pricing and driving demand in the smart phone market:

One trend RIM seems very keen on is lower prices for wireless data services. Mr. Balsillie noted on the call that T-Mobile in the U.S. launched a $9.99 BlackBerry e-mail plan. The experience in Europe has shown that such moves really drive adoption among consumers, Mr. Balsillie [RIM co-CEO] noted.

For the past week I have had the opportunity to try out the 8820 via several WiFi Access Point connections, including both "private" AP's and the Canadian Hotspot Network, as well as the Rogers GSM/GPRS/EDGE network. Within this configuration WiFi provides data access to my email, the browser and several data applications, (such as Google, GMail, Google Maps, Google News and IM+ for Skype). As Rogers is not currently supporting UMA/GAN, it does not support voice via WiFi. However, Andy at VoIP Watch has been experiencing seamless transition of voice calls between GSM and WiFi on his recently acquired Blackberry 8320 where T-Mobile supports UMA/GAN via their T-Mobile Hotspot @ Home service (a $19.95 per month add-on). Some European carriers, such as Orange France, are currently supporting UMA/GAN on the 8820. (Note that only GSM networks can support UMA/GAN.)

Migrating from my Blackberry 8700 to the 8820 was very easy using RIM's "Switch Device Wizard" (which also includes a process for switching from Windows Mobile and Palm devices); simply ran it to transfer all my basic Blackberry operations and features. The only manual process was registering the 8820's PIN number with the carrier to be able to obtain my email.

In lieu of the previous "Radio On/Off" icon, there is now a "Manage Connections" icon to manage both GSM Network access as well as to set up and register various WiFi networks used in the course of my activities. Searches for WiFi network Access Points (AP's), asks for any required WEP or PSK (WPA) keys, enter an Access Point name (SSID is the default) and connect. There is an option to store the AP information such that it is picked up automatically every time you return within range of the registered AP.

In the Home Screen above, notice that both WiFi and the GSM/EDGE networks are identified, not only by logos but are also named out. A Bluetooth headset is connected also; the plug beside the battery status icon indicates it is recharging (as would be the case whenever connected via USB to a laptop). No, this is not the GPhone (see the first row of icons above), but Google certainly provides significant support of its services for the Blackberry (just go to mobile.google.com and download). Whenever I enter an application native to the Blackberry or some other browser-based applications such as Google Search or Google News, the appropriate logo (WiFi or EDGE) flashes in the upper right ribbon bar to indicate which network is in use for this download. Some third party applications, including IM+ for Skype, GMail and Google Maps, will need to make a UI modification to show which network is being used during connection activity.

Occasionally I find that, while a WiFi Access Point is always detected, it is not actually fully connected until you start an application (and even then it will start out using EDGE). In fact, the WiFi indicator shown above has two statuses: one when WiFi is "scanning" but not connected (gray background behind "Fi") and another when the WiFi is connected (white background behind "Fi"). One feature about the Nokia N95's dual network operation is that it has an option that actually lets you select which connection you want to use for an application to ensure you are using the lowest cost connection option when starting the application. This is probably the one issue that still needs to be made more robust and reliable.

At this point all my standard Blackberry applications are in use as previously on the 8700. However, one major change for two applications: Blackberry Maps and Google Maps. The Blackberry 8820 internally supports not simply GPS but Assisted GPS or A-GPS such that location is determined using both satellites and cell towers. I have had instances where the GPS indicator on Google Maps will follow me around from room-to-room within my house. While I expected the GPS to support Blackberry Maps, it was a bonus to find it supporting Google Maps. And it gets real interesting when using the satellite view; in walking my dog to a local park, it knew not only which street I was on but also which side of the street and at which driveway. It followed me along the paths within the park (did not try running the base paths on the softball diamond.) At times it will claim down to 3 meter accuracy. Occasionally the tracking appears to time out but it works much more effectively, in terms of time to obtain a location, than my experience with the N95.

The image on the right is a low resolution Google Maps satellite view in the Laurentian Mountains (north of Montreal); the bright white dot on the right (shown on the Blackberry as a flashing blue dot) indicates my current accommodation location. The satellite picture must have been taken in the spring when snow is still on the ski runs (center left) and golf course fairways (lower left). And the sandy area is actually a small aircraft landing strip. Unfortunately this is the best resolution satellite image for this area on Google Maps but it provides a good illustration of use of the 8820's GPS with Google Maps.

The Blackberry Maps applications is more suited for driving directions and navigation activities.Its Location and Driving Directions features are linked to (i) Current location as detected by GPS, (ii) the Blackberry address book and (iii) manual address entry. Just remember that, when driving, for safety reasons you can't also be operating the Blackberry Maps set up or Google Maps; a dashboard mounting bracket for your Blackberry would be appropriate. (These features are also available on the Blackberry 8310, the only 83xx Curve supporting GPS, as well as the 8800 and 8830.) In practice, while any phone-based GPS navigation will not replace a full featured dedicated GPS navigation system, such as those from Garmin or TomTom, Blackberry's GPS features have many times helped me get out of difficult driving situations. (I did use Blackberry Maps on the 8700 with a remote GPS unit.)

To date I have largely used the Blackberry 8820 for email, Facebook updates, checking out (Google) news and sports scores as well as following some Skype chat sessions. The GPS has bailed me out of a couple of traffic obstruction situations. I have checked out the Voice Dialing feature. The speech recognition seems to work quite reliably; my main issue is to realize it is there as the default application for the Blackberry's convenience key. (I also have an aversion to announcing out loud whom I want to call when in the company of others but can readily see its utility in an automobile environment.)

Why 83xx vs 88xx?

• All 83xx include a camera and 1100 mah battery (4 hours talk time); only 8310 has GPS.
• All 88xx include GPS and a 1400 mah battery (5 hours talk time)
• Only 8x20 have WiFi support.
• The 8320 has a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack while the 8820 has support for the Bluetooth stereo audio profile. (I just need to find an appropriate headset to check it out.)

Two third party applications, currently available on the Nokia N95, that I would like to see on WiFi-enabled Blackberries:

• SlingPlayer; with the WiFi support, there is finally a Blackberry with the feature set and horsepower required to connect back to a SlingBox
• Truphone client: another means of providing low cost VoIP access via a WiFi connection.

While many have touted the 8820 as a business competitor to the iPhone (which has no GPS, for instance), from the consumer and multimedia aspect, the new Blackberry 8320 Curve with its camera and 3.5 mm stereo headset jack is probably a more competitive offering for those who want superior overall email operation with 8x20's superior, more tactile physical keyboard.

One most important feature where the Blackberry continues to win out over any competitive offering: battery life. The 88xx has 40% more battery life than the 8700 series and 27% more than the 83xx series. And infinitely more battery life than any Nokia smart phone.

In future posts I hope to cover features such as the media player

T-Mobile talks about how a UMA/GAN supported phone can become both your mobile and home phone. This certainly has some merit but probably also needs a build out of support services such as the forthcoming Blackberry Unite software interactively connecting up to five users. What will be interesting is determining the role of mobile phones and Skype in an world where voice access from a single device can be both fixed and mobile while inexpensive.

But even with my current configuration where the WiFi is only used for data, the 8820 has significant implications for enterprises that are internally WiFi-enabled. While having an "anywhere available" GSM network accessible while outside the enterprise, these enterprises can now significantly reduce GPRS/EDGE data plan usage for enterprise applications.

If you are serious about a smart phone with WiFi connectivity, definitely check out both the 8820 and Curve 8320. Running a dual mode phone does not simply provide additional routes to data access; it changes your entire thinking about how you use your mobile smartphone, especially when you are on a tolled data plan.

Tags: Blackberry, Blackberry 8820, Blackberry 8320, Blackberry Curve, UMA/GAN, UMA, Blackberry Unite, Rogers Wireless, Dual Mode Wireless, GSM, WiFi, T-Mobile Hotspot @ Home, Orange France, Skype, IM+ for Skype, Blackberry Maps, Google Maps, SlingPlayer, Truphone

Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Before (courtesy of Siim Teller)...

And after...

Ten people before, seven after; Geoffrey Prentice, VP for Strategy and Asia, also resigned.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This is the second in a series summarizing the current state of Skype's ecosystem and providing a perspective on the assets in place for a new CEO to run with.

In the first post I provided a high level backgrounder on Skype's five primary assets and the three business groupings within the Skype ecosystem. Today I want to talk about Skype's core real time conversation infrastructure enabling:

• voice (traditional voice calls, conference calls)
• text messaging (chat, SMS)
  • conversation archiving
• presence
• video
• directory services
• group chat
• calling services:
  • speed dial
  • voice mail
  • call forwarding
  • call transfer
• file transfer

The first point to be made about Skype is that it is NOT a VoIP service but rather a comprehensive enabler of real time conversations. No other player in the softphone or landline space offers such a broad range of services that allows the user to enhance the conversation by, say, capturing a screen segment and using Snag-It to send to a Skype contact, adding up to 8 more participants to an initial voice call as necessary during the call, transferring the call to up to five locations to increase the possibility of getting to the desired person, or dragging an Outlook Contact to the Skype client to provide full contact information.. Nobody provides up to eight ways to perform a file transfer during a call.

Some highlights of these services:

Voice: free calls to other Skype users (Skype calls); low cost calls to most landline phones worldwide and mobile phones in North America (SkypeOut calls); calls to mobile phones outside North America (also SkypeOut but those European and Asian mobile operators have a "caller pays" policy). Price plans such that long distance calling within a region for a year has the same cost as one or two months services on traditional landline services. And conference in additional participants at will or set up conference calls for up with up to nine additional participants who can be Skype Contacts and/or at SkypeOut phone numbers.

You can also set up as many as ten SkypeIn numbers in twenty countries; have phone numbers in, say, the U.S. and a European country that both come to your single Skype account. Become "local" to your remote family members or business contacts.

Test Messaging: For me text Chat is the number one feature I use with Skype (and appears to be number one with many of my Skype Contacts).

• Get answers to ad hoc questions quickly
• Politely avoid the niceties of "how are you?", "how's the weather"
• Use Chat for virutalizing worldwide those informal conversations we all have around the house, office or community center.
• Emoticons and font selection bring emotion into the text conversation.
• Quickly add multiple parties into the chat as relevant.
• Recall previous chat sessions to look up URL's or mission critical information exchanged in the past.

Dan York has so many text chats running that he overloads a hotel's Internet access! And a very useful feature introduced with Skype 3.5: you can now edit or remove your most recent chat entry to correct typos or, say, withdraw text inadvertently sent to the wrong active chat session on your desktop.

Presence: on Skype is a blessing and a curse. If there is one consistency about Skype's presence, it has to be the scaling issues associated with keeping presence current across as many as 10 million users online and 10's of millions in various "non-available" statuses (stati?). Several third party attempts to address presence in the early days of Skype have been abandoned for two reasons: (i) it's tough to scale and (ii) it's really part of Skype's core functionality.

So we are relying on Skype to build in the sophistication to address issues such as multiple logins (at least with Skype 3.2 and later, "latest login wins", provided this feature has migrated across all platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Skype phones and the various mobile devices supported in multiple ways) and simply time to propagate a status change across the entire Skype ecosystem.

And the direction of Skype's presence will be a key differentiator for Skype if they get it right. Should they get so sophisticated as to include "New Presence" and its requirements for real time relevance? Is there a need for, and willingness to, develop universal standards for presence? Is there a need to consider enhancements for presence? To quote Alec Saunders on these issues:

Perhaps the two biggest barriers to New Presence today are:

1. the simple confusion around protocol standards. Ironically, this ought to be the simplest piece to solve. Standards are simply codified ways to describe information. The tussle between SIP / SIMPLE, and XMPP must be resolved before New Presence can effectively move forward. Much of the rest of the technology required already exists.
2. the will of the carriers and portal players, who still cling to the wilful delusion that they can capture every aspect of the users communication world. In reality, the vast majority of us lead heterogeneous lives, and no service provider will ever change that.

Video: Video is still trying to earn its place in our real time conversations. Skype's current video provides excellent quality; however, one has to fundamentally deal with the issue of a user not wanting to be seen for a variety of privacy, self-esteem and social etiquette reasons. For small businesses, multi-party video could certainly be a future benefit, whether the service comes from a third party Developer Partner or within Skype. Fundamentally, if you want to hold a one-to-one video conversation and have an appropriate webcam, you can have one. (Although the grapevine tells me there are issues with keeping webcam support current but then Logitech recently released a driver that corrupts my Windows, so real time video conversation still needs maturing of the infrastructure also.)

A couple of recent video applications I have encountered: Amber MacArthur uses Skype video on her Mac to produce some of her television interviews for CityTV in Toronto. And Skype video was recently used for a "free Tibet" protest related to getting visibility during leadup to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Group Chat: this is one of the most underutilized and underpromoted aspects of Skype. For the past five months, since Group Chat's introduction, I have been following a couple of Group Chats related to Skype activities (Skype 3.x discussion group and Skype Mashup discussion board). Group Chats can become the informal virtual water fountain around a special interest topic; provided the "Hosts" keep the discussion more or less on topic (and they can dismiss/ban non-obliging participants). Group Chats. while limited to 150 participants, probably have more potential to contribute to ad hoc social networking than any other aspect of Skype. Any Skype user can start a group chat; buttons and tools are available to promote a group chat via websites, emails and individual chat sessions.

Directory Services: Skype provides access to a "master" directory within the Skype cloud that allows you to search for contacts by e-mail address or name. Once a name is found you have the option to add it to your Skype Contacts. However, there are some privacy guidelines:

• The other party can search by name or email address but you must initiate a search and have the query information from a Skype-independent source.
• Skype never releases email address information, even in any form of Skype Profiles. .
• Only when you have agreed to share your contact information can the other party actually view your entire Skype Profile with (optional) phone number information.
• For all the obvious anti-spam reasons, email addresses are not provided in Skype profiles; while a Skype user needs to include an email address to register with Skype, it is not provided in users' Skype Profiles.

Fundamentally the Skype Contact client serves as your own personal address book, along with its associated infrastructure; it currently provides:

• Access to all your "accepted" Skype Contacts for initiating real time voice, chat and video conversations as well as leaving voicemails, executing file transfer and SMS messaging
• Home, Office and Mobile phone number information for SkypeOut calls. Note, that with version 3.5, this is only available to those Skype Contacts whom you have allowed to have your "Contact Details".
• Speed Dial with up to 99 speed dial numbers (see MyToGo for an innovative use of Speed Dial and SkypeIn to extend your Skype reach to your home, office and/or mobile phones)
• You can build your own "Do Not Call" list using the "Block this User" feature
• Grouping according to Groups that you as a user establish.

Skype is currently working on a Unified Directory web service from which not only are you able to locate Skype users but also search for SkypeFind businesses, Skype Prime services as well as Group Chats and Skypecaasts by topic.

As an aside, also note that now Skype detects phone numbers within websites and makes them clickable to call via SkypeOut in a two click process (the second acknowledging you will be using a chargeable service). Very handy; especially when using traditional telco directories such as Canada 411. And no "callback" involved! (The former Skype Web Toolbar is now embedded into Skype 3.5 installations.)

Calling services: Skype provides facility for the common calling services such as a basic voice mail (with the ability to leave voice mails without an initiating call), call transfer to other Skype users (and with SkypePro to any SkypeOut phone number), call forwarding concurrently to multiple destinations (other Skype accounts, SkypeOut phone numbers). Call waiting is inherent to Skype as well as the ability to bring others into a conversation (whether a Skype User or a SkypeOut contact).

File Transfer: personally I find this is one service which I heavily use in the course of discussions with Skype Partners while both learning about their products and also providing user feedback. As mentioned earlier there are eight ways to do File Transfer with Skype; integration with utilities such as Snag-It make it very handy to, say, send screen shots with a minimum number of clicks. Transferred files are monitored by any anti-virus software on your local PC; also the file transfer itself is encrypted for additional security.

Two additional Skype toolbars: Skype Email Toolbar and Skype Office Toolbar integrate Skype with your MS Outlook and MS Office activities respectively.

Other considerations: Skype works across Windows, Mac and Linux platforms; with some limitations it also works on PC-Free cordless phones (presence but no text chat) and Windows Mobile devices (with WiFi or 3G wireless services); Skype can be accessed via third party applications on most mobile devices. Skype sends no monthly bills; paid services are all prepaid. Finally while there are over 220 million registered Skype account, there are probably 20 to 30 million regular Skype users with as many as 9.7 million users online around 1600 GMT when both Europe and North America are doing business.

And finally, the one major asset that has allowed 220 million to sign up for Skype and close to 10 million to be using it during the business day: Ease-of-use. Skype Vice-President for Communications Services, Stefan Oberg, talked about this subject at VON Canada eighteen months ago and it remains an overriding guideline in the development of the product. If anything the introduction of new functionality such as video in chat and SkypeFind have occurred around the basic real time conversation tools. It's remains a simple right click on a contact name to start any conversation mode. The newer functionality is available to those who want to explore them but not required to carry on conversations.

When Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, or others start providing this range of real time conversation support, I'll start looking at them again. As for other VoIP services, tell me how they are going to build a Directory with over 200 million accounts. SightSpeed provides an excellent video messaging and multi-party video conference capability but, in practice, it addresses the asynchronous communications space. In the meantime Skype has become my primary communications tool, meeting many more needs than I could have anticipated prior to Skype's availability.

It's not simply a matter of talking to my personal and business acquaintances; it's a matter of enhancing conversations to provide backup, accuracy (of, say, URL's, contact information, etc.) and support; it's a matter of having ongoing informal text chat conversations; of being able to recall important information from previous conversations. of being able to transfer a critical document on demand, and, most importantly, of making both my personal and business communications both more productive and more cost effective.

And Skype has come along way towards Stefan's goal for Skype stated at VON Canada eighteen months ago: "Better than a phone..." And Alec Saunders says, "Stop wringing your hands. Skype is a huge success."

Other post in this series:

• A Backgrounder
• Skype Hardware - If and When Available
• Skype's Extras Gallery and Developer Partner Program

Tags: Skype, SkypeOut, SkypeIn, SkypePro, Skype File Transfer, Instant Messaging, Skype Video, Presence

Posted by Jim Courtney at 06:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This afternoon...

Speakers: Ubion's Koji Hisano, Skype's Paul Avery, Sten Tamkivi, and Lester Madden. Blogged at Skype Japan.

RSVP to Antoine.Bertout AT skype DOT net or sign up here. Directions to Mistui Headquarters.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype announced the "gold" release (out-of-beta) of Skype for Linux 1.4, with lots of new drag-and-drop. Enough bug fixes that you should upgrade now. More features...

• Command line switches, run "skype —help" for more details.
• —resources= to set an alternative to /usr/share/skype for resources.
• Add an option to Sound Devices to enable/disable automatic mixer adjustment.
• Allow keyboard/keypad to be used to enter DTMF numbers in call window.
• Clickable links in chat topics.
• Tooltips for emoticons in the chat window.
• Chat toolbar with Add People, Send File(s) to Chat, History and Leave Chat buttons.
• Confirmation dialog for Leave Chat button.
• Drag-and-drop files to chat input box to send files to chat.
• Drag-and-drop files to individual contacts in chat or contact list to send files.
• Drag-and-drop users from contact list into chat input box to send contacts.
• Drag-and-drop users from contact list into chat memberlist to add to chat.
• Dragging of contacts into other programs (text entry) will copy skype:.
• File transfer menu.
• API OPEN FILETRANSFER and OPEN USERINFO commands.
• Auto-accept file transfers.
• "Cleanup transfers" button.
• Key 'F6' to bring main window focus instantly to Quickfilter.
• Interface language choice in Options based on translation files available (restart required).
• "New version available" dialog.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

What mashup should/can you build? I've been looking for models to help Skype Journal's consulting clients understand the range of integration opportunities.

For context, start with The Anatomy of a Call:

Three stages:

• Before the call. All the elements that bring the parties together.

• During the call. Augmenting conversations, switching or combining communication modes, handle interruptions, changing the parties, choosing privacy policies.  

• After the call. Records, analysis, feedback, repurposing of recordings for social media.

And the two transition points:

• Start the Call. Making connections, choosing devices, deciding to start or defer.

• End the Call. Prepare for disconnect, plan for follow up, disconnect smoothly.

Diving deeper, we can explore goals and strategies associated with each step in the timeline.

Let's look at Discovery, one of the things you do before a conversation. Discovery is about finding strangers, or groups of strangers, to talk with (or people you know but didn't think of for this call). 

Six discovery strategies:

1. Follow a thread. As you surf the web/email, something catches your eye. You follow blogrolls, author links, comments and forum threads. As you surf, your intentions strengthen, so when you discover someone worth talking to, you're ready to initiate contact.

2. Search. "White pages" search lets you look up a person by name. Today's "people search" offers more attributes, including education and career histories, publications and citations, geography, and biography. "Yellow pages" business search

3. Communities of Interest. Online has always been full of places where people gather around topics. I started to write "Communities of Practice" but CoP is too specific to the workplace. Interest applies to many contexts.

4. Matching. Some "market maker" services specialize in finding mutual matches. Job boards bring job seekers {offer: knowledge, sklils, abilities, experience; wants: type of work, compensation, location} with jobs/employers {offer: workplace, roles/responsibilities, compensation; wants: fit, competence}. You see the same thing with dating/romance sites, activity/partner sites (seeking an intermediate tennis partner for Tuesday evening practice), language learning communities, free-agent gig sites, etc. "Mutual" is what makes this matching, not search.

5. Introduction. Referral. Turning social networks into social capital starts with referrals. Who better to trust than a stranger referred by a friend?

6. Accident. Call it Serendipity, a happy chance. Did you click the wrong name, mistype a web address, leave your IM handle on a blog post? Love stories are full of "cute meets" and we're seeing the same thing online.

Each discovery strategy brings its own set of tempos, user goals, contexts, values, and measures of success.

• Can you continue discovery during the rest of the call? Help discover and invite relevant people into an ongoing conversation? Promote a conversation's archives to attract more people to the next conversation?

• Can you improve on Skype's directory? On your company's directory?

• Can you make it easier for people in your communities to discover each other and launch into 1-to-1 or group conversations?

• How can you combine discovery methods to improve relevance and fun?

As with other "before" strategies, discovery is only as good as its integration with "Start the Call."

We always want our product's scope to be right every time. Experience Opportunity Maps like these help Skype-connected applications find sweet spots and market opportunities. If this topic interests you, you can always Skype me, or join others with similar obsessions in Skype Journal's public chat or the Skype Mashup chat.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the last few weeks, Skype developer relations evangelized the new Skype Public platform roadmap. Peeter "wolli" Mõtsküla presented it at the September 2007 Prague developer days. His slides:

Highlights:

• Skype uses the term "plug-outs" for apps that use Skype's web services. "think virtual walkie-talkies in a multi-user first-person-shooter game"
• Peeter refers to a Skype "naked" client as if it is really going to happen.
• Plans for Q4-2007 development:
  • Web services for a "Unified Directory" - users, SkypeFind businesses, Skype Prime services, public chats/casts - est. Q1-2008 release
  • Client Conversation API - one API for all media (sms, chat, voice, video, file transfer), privacy modes (public, private) - specs in Q4-2007, release in Q1-2008
  • Non-interactive login on Linux - progress to "headless" UI-free Skype - release in Q4-2007
  • Releasing Skype4COM as Open-source - working the way developers work

Pros:

• On the right track on all counts. I'm grinning about the Skype roadmap for the first time in ages.

Cons:

• Missing: Call controls via web services. The roadmap doesn't include the ability to start, join, leave or answer conversations via web service API, not even in the "maybe, someday, no-promises" section.
• No discussion of innovation around groups of people. Vital for social network and enterprise workgroup applications and integration.

Paul Amery, director of Skype's developer relations program, spoke last week to developers and press at a Skype Inn open house in San Jose, California. His slides:

Paul introduced his team (clockwise from top-left): Ants, Mirje, Wolli, Avo, Kristo, Lester, Paul, Caitlin, and Halina.

Highlights:

Paul announced two new initiatives:

• Skype Technical Press - publications for Skype developers.
• Skype Approved Integrator program - certification for engineering firms that build on the Skype platform for clients. The first round of SAI partners should be announced this week.

Paul defines three measures of SDP success

1. Is the platform rich and extensive?
2. Is there a large, energetic community?
3. Is there a big, rapid pipeline of complementary end user solutions?

Paul makes SDP's case:

• the platform is better now than last year and growing rapidly
• the SDP has 6000 community developers with 50 software partners
• Skype's "Extras" program drove 20 million downloads for partners in its first nine months

Paul listed SDP's four core activities:

1. Platform and API
2. TechEd and Communications
3. Relationship (R&R) and Events
4. Publishing and Tech Services

Posted by Phil Wolff at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, VoIP industry pioneer and visionary Jeff Pulver put out his post commenting on the changes at Skype: I Come to Praise Skype, not to Bury Them. Jeff, better than any of us, understands the value of VoIP technology as contributing to a platform for building communities through real time conversations: He stands by, and quotes, his words posted at the time of eBay's Skype acquisition and follows them up with:

Back then I also was thinking how eBay might be able to leverage the power of Skype in a private eBay Social Media platform when I wrote: "Unlike traditional voice communications providers, eBay gets the concept of community and community building. Adding a rich IP-based communications capability -- including IM, voice and presence applications -- to its community should dramatically enhance the value of and services available to eBay's community…

And closes with:

My advice to the current eBay team is to take notice of a suggestion I first suggested on September 12, 2005 which was ridiculed at the time by TheStreet.com: "If you take the elements of eBay, including the micro-payments capability of Paypal and, now, the IP-based communications capabilities of Skype, we may be seeing the formation of the next Reuters." And if not Reuters, than at least Brokerage Firm 2.0.

Having attended two eBay Live events and absorbed some of the eBay Reseller culture, my advice to the new CEO is to leverage the eBay relationship by training eBay Resellers on how to use Skype and then let them decide how to build out their Skype ecosystem within the eBay community. As suggested in a post after this year's eBay Live, it starts with education; the Resellers' curiosity and will to learn is there.

Thanks, Jeff. I know the Skype teams will appreciate your support and vision at this time.

Now back to my series on A Primer for Skype's Direction.

Tags: Skype, Jeff Pulver, eBay

Posted by Jim Courtney at 02:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype's fourth president, Michael van Swaaij has been living in Switzerland but it's a safe bet he's taking a London flat as we speak. [craigslist London, Michael.]

Michael van Swaaij's (pronounced "van-sway") slightly dated official biography:

After starting out in the microelectronics industry Dutch born Michael van Swaaij joined Bertelsmann AG, Europe’s largest media company, in 1994 as Director New Technologies advising on investment opportunities in the field of new media. He joined one such investment, the Bertelsmann - America Online joint-venture in Europe in 1995, as one of the first employees and eventually became Regional Managing Director responsible for the AOL and CompuServe businesses in several European countries.

He joined eBay in July 1999 to start and head up eBay’s European operations and expansion through green-field start-ups as well as acquisitions. eBay Europe is now the largest ecommerce business in Europe operating in 9 countries with over 10 Billion Euros per year in trade.

Michael is currently the Chief Strategy Officer for eBay Inc, reporting to its CEO Meg Whitman, and is responsible for defining the strategic direction for the eBay Inc group of companies (eBay, PayPal, Skype). Michael holds a master degree from the Technical University of Twente, a PhD from the Catholic University in Leuven and a MBA from INSEAD.

All the best from Skype Journal, Michael.

More:

• U.S. Patent No. 6064819: Control flow and memory management optimization.
• LinkedIn profile. Facebook profile.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 06:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

To steal a theme from one of the parties in our current Ontario provincial election - Leadership Counts! It has been apparent to many of us who follow Skype that Skype needs to renew its vision, its values and its directions. Providing the necessary leadership awaits the new CEO. In the meantime let's take a look at what Skype and its new CEO has to build on.

The past eighteen months with Skype Journal have given me the opportunity to meet many levels of the Skype team from tech support, development and quality control personnel through to Partner Program managers, Product Line Managers and a couple of Vice Presidents. They are all energetic, enthusiastic employees who want to see Skype succeed, who want to be participants driving a communications revolution but they are crying for leadership with a vision, leadership that can leverage and uncover the full potential of the Skype team members, leadership that can establish values and point Skype towards a sustainably successful business model.

Just as importantly many third party partners have made extensive investments to develop offerings and services that enhance the Skype conversation, especially in business. One of the more enjoyable experiences with Skype Journal has been the opportunity to meet at length with many of these partners and absorb their passion and enthusiasm for supporting Skype and its potential.

I should also mention that 13 years ago I was a member of the management team of a NASDAQ-listed company that successfully turned around the company at the time. I see many parallels for Skype. When I look around Skype I see the foundation and infrastructure from which an appropriately experienced CEO can build for success..

Skype has five primary assets:

• A brand name, Skype, associated with low-cost worldwide Internet-based telephony
• A keen, energetic and enthusiastic team of business managers, administrators, developers, program managers, product managers who want to be part of the real time conversation revolution.
• New products in development (have no idea what they are but there have to be reasons for the beta testers meetings in Prague recently and all those developers working in Talinn and elsewhere).
• Passionate business partnerships leveraging Skype as a platform for extended services development.
• A range of licensed hardware platforms that provide a seamless, transparent migration path from legacy PSTN to Skype

Within the Skype ecosystem can be found three core business groups:

• Skype's core real time conversation infrastructure enabling voice, chat, text messaging, presence, video, group chat and calling services such as voice mail, call forwarding, call transfer, multi-party conference calls
• Skype hardware platforms: hardware devices that facilitate use of Skype, including several PC-Free devices that very effectively replace traditional telephone hardware. Some even have the potential to make the migration to Skype transparent, seamless and fail-safe.
• Skype Developer Partner offerings and services that truly leverage Skype's core infrastructure to bring enterprise level business processes to the small-medium entrepreneur. Think collaboration tools, call centers, conversation archiving, large scale conference calling. Think developer tools,. mashups, and "Skype as a platform".

If one aspect of Skype became clear during my judging of the Mashup Competition it was Skype's clear lack of effective marketing to recruit users. Viral marketing can only take a business so far; going from 200 million to 1 billion users requires focus, very public visibility, user education and marketing discipline. At this point it is not a case of not having the technology and tools for real time conversations, it is a matter of educating business managers and consumers with what they can do with Skype. It is not a matter of offering "free" long distance; it is a matter of delivering value-add by enhancing real time conversations for more effective personal and business communications.

Over the next few days I will talk about the opportunities for Skype; in the interim some recommended reading:

• Voice 2.0 Manifesto: where is the real business opportunity with Voice over IP technology?
• Skype Partners Answer Jeff's Call for Innovation in Voice Services
• On Being a Skype Software Business Partner
• Why VoIP Innovation Died with Skype Stuart Henshall, a Founder of Skype Journal provides his reflections on eBay's stewardship of Skype. In conclusion Stuart has articulated the criteria he sees as critical for the new CEO:

• Visibility: The new CEO will / must be very visible. They will either hold or lose the confidence of remaining developers. Learning to talk Skype will be a problem. Skype is less than four years old. As there are no internal candidates finding someone that can talk Skype (not as telephony) is a major challenge.
  
• Guts: They will have to be a hard ass on the numbers. Skype is already in a price war, it's time to take home the advantage while creating new value which will take some imagination and real pressure on the organization. That's may or may not be a problem for eBay. Depending on the "agreement" it will have an impact on the new CEO, their flexibility, and the time given to finish the job that Niklas started
  
• Beliefs: They have to have deep seated beliefs. Winning in this world will not come from quantitative research; rather it needs a higher level of experimentation, more transparency, and the building or a real open community. Skype is closed. Skype must be opened up. Few candidates will know how to do this.
  
• Facilitate: Skype still learning has a young team and some good old fashioned recognition and encouragement is required. Skype cannot grow bigger without growing responsibilities of those that are there today. Any new CEO must know how to put in place an accelerated listening program.
  
• London: the Red Herring choice. Should the new CEO simply move the company to Estonia? Politics and autocratic rule have still to be overcome. There are always hard choices to be made. Marketing is the first area to address. Adding to the marketing team will help to re-shape it without killing the gems that remain. Eg User Design.
  
• Product Acumen: Skype wins or loses not based on the US, rather on India, China, Brazil in the longer term. It cannot win at all without a mobile strategy, in fact a Presence, View, Talk, Text, or Post strategy. Communications is multi-modal today and multiple devices. Skype has understood this better than most; however is yet to press the advantage home. New competitors are also increasingly everywhere... It is not the IM clients, or the telecoms anymore. Facebook and Google remain the real challenges.
  
• Power of Three: Does he/she say bullshit? eBay appears to be incapable of integrating communications into their selling process. How much management attention and time will eBay require of the new CEO? Anything over 10% and we know that nothing will change.

Other posts in this series

• Enabling Real Time Communications
• Skype Hardware - If and When Available
• Skype's Extras Gallery and Developer Partner Program

Tags: Skype, Skype CEO, Skype leadership, Voice 2.0 Manifesto, Stuart Henshall, eBay, Alec Saunders, Skype Developer Program, Skype hardware

Posted by Jim Courtney at 05:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Following today's earlier post on the beginning of Skype's metamorphosis, I have come across a couple of additional links that are worth noting:

Thomas Crampton's exclusive interview with Niklas: Zennstrom defends Skype while stepping down:

Zennstrom vigorously defended Skype’s performance, saying that few companies have ever grown a user base so quickly and warning against quick monetization of users drawn to a free service.
“Some people have been critical of Skype, but I am very proud of the company’s growth,” Zennstrom said in a telephone interview with ThomasCrampton.com. “Very few companies can claim to match the growth trajectory Skype is on and continues to be on.”

In conjunction with today's announcements, eBay had to file an 8-K with the SEC entitled "Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement" . A couple of interesting points to note:

• Should eBay sell what amounts to a controlling interest in Skype prior to March 31, 2008, Niklas and his fellow shareholders of record would receive an additional €138,411,300 (~$195 million) as a term of the reported "Material Definitive Agreement" announced today.
• And today's announcement came as an outcome of eBay's annual strategic planning exercise:

This charge is the result of the updated long-term financial outlook for Skype developed as part of eBay's strategic planning cycle conducted annually during its third quarter. This updated financial outlook for Skype was then reviewed in conjunction with eBay's annual goodwill impairment testing that is undertaken as of August 31st of each year.

And there's lots of "I told you so" and "shoot from the hip" commentary that can be found via Techmeme. I say they don't know the whole story at Skype (and certainly C-level management has to take responsibility for the failure to communicate the story).

While today eBay has effectively taken their licks, as Niklas implies, Skype has built up some valuable employee teams, assets, services and business relationships; Phil, Andy and I witnessed some of that last week at the Skype Developer Event in San Jose. As Niklas also states Skype has become profitable. But, as Andy says, it will take a Telco 2.0 executive to leverage all this for most value for eBay shareholders. More on that tomorrow.

Update: Thomas Howe has inadvertently described a Telco 2.0 company in "Dear Carriers; They Didn't Need You" (where he even references the Skype mashup contest).

Tags: Skype, Niklas Zennstrom, Thomas Crampton, Andy Abramson, eBay

Posted by Jim Courtney at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

At this point I am going to provide simply links to other stories; my commentary will follow later.

Top Executive Changes at Skype: Niklas resigns as CEO (remaining Chair of the Board) and Skype President Henry Gomez has resigned his position, effective immediately. During the search for a new CEO, Michael van Swaaij, eBay's Chief Strategy Officer will serve as interim CEO.

Of interest would be to know what is behind the additional "impairment charge" mentioned here:

eBay expects that the €375 million payment (approximately $530 million), together with an additional amount of €630 million (approximately $900 million), will be taken as an impairment charge to be recorded as part of its Q3 financial results.

This statement particularly piques my interest as I was personally responsible for helping to establish an impairment charge in a NASDAQ company restructuring 13 years ago. (In that case it mostly involved getting an assessment of inventory in the distribution channel and estimating how much would come back for replacement of stale product but we also had marketing development fund liabilities and other "gotchas".) You can throw everything but the kitchen sink into such a charge to cover a lot of sins. But we'll probably never know in this case.

eBay has also negotiated a release from the earn-out agreement signed with certain Skype shareholders when eBay acquired Skype in 2005. Skype Co-Founder Jaanus Friis, in his post (not) just another Monday, provides a nostalgic retrospective on the past four years while ruminating on his ambitions for Joost:

Skype has been an incredible adventure and I am proud to have been part of it. Looking back at 2003, at two guys running around with a crazy idea of building a global phone company purely on the Internet, moving from one rented apartment to another, still battling a major lawsuit from our Kazaa days, 2003 seems a long time ago. It is amazing to think that it is only four years!

Andy Abramson at VoIP Watch, who has recently been voicing his criticism of top Skype management, has his usual insightful commentary:

This tells me a few things. First that the eBay leadership is not happy with the direction Skype has been going and is looking for a leader who can really run the company globally as a telco 2.0 oriented business.

....

Third, this likely means something is up with Joost and Nikki Z didn't need to stick around to be a straw boss. For Gomez, who is not a tech guy, this puts him back where he was most effective at eBay and where he can do only more great things to keep the company's reputation on the high side.

Andrew Hansen has also expressed his viewpoints.

Tags: Skype, Niklas Zennstrom, Jaanus Friis, eBay, Andy Abramson, VoIP Watch, Andrew Hansen

Posted by Jim Courtney at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Since I last gave a complete report on SlingMedia's various hardware platforms and the various SlingPlayers for remotely delivering your cable/satellite TV subscription to any location on the Internet with appropriate access, the SlingMedia team has been busy releasing new versions of their player. The Mac version appeared in May and last week a Symbian S60 3rd edition SlingPlayer was released as a third party application for the Nokia N-Series phones. I have been fortunate enough to have been a beta tester over the past three months for running SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian on the widely available Nokia N95 platform whose WiFi connectivity is a key requirement for this service to operate in real time fashion.

Fundamentally the N95 supports an additional wireless protocol beyond GSM/GPRS/EDGE - namely WiFi 80211.b/g - for providing and managing Internet access via WiFi. With this WiFi support the N95 allows programs such as SlingPlayer and Truphone to readily operate in real time with minimum interference and digital pixelation or latency impact while providing very smooth output whether video or audio. I have now experienced this SlingPlayer over WiFi on the Nokia N95 during the past two months with the following comments:

In the (High Definition source) picture at the left, Canada's premier professional golfer Mike Weir is taking his final shot of the President's Cup 2007 held near Montreal on the 18th hole in a match with Tiger Woods. (As a result of this shot and some Tiger miscues he won the match.) The picture quality, once the SlingPlayer is connected and the cable box has been remotely powered On, is excellent, especially when considering the relative sizes of the original TV pictures, the number of compressions and decompressions it passes through in reaching the remote destination. Even works quite well at tracking high action sports such as hockey. Notice the Favorites bar which allows you to quickly access your most frequently view channels. While the Options softkey allows you to access the full set of remote control features for your cable box or PVR, you can change channels via the telephone keypad and adjust volume with the +/- switch on the N95 case.

While providing a totally satisfactory mobile TV viewing experience for carrying around the WiFi-networked house, I have found the following:

• The N95 battery life will limit baseball action to about five innings or less before requiring a recharge. In a test during the Blue Jays-Yankees 11 inning 12-11 marathon last weekend, I found a fully charged battery would die after about two hours.
• The Favorites bar needs icons for Canadian TV networks and channels.
• You will usually want to watch the action in the N95's "Fullscreen" (landscape) mode to take maximum benefit of 4:3 or 16:9 video.
• You can reduce battery drain by using the "Audio Only" mode that simply delivers the audio feed.
• While SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian supports GSM's 3G HSDPA/UMTS wireless protocol, it is only recommended for users who have an unlimited wireless data plan. (For the same reasons that any VoIP does not work acceptably on 2G networks, SlingPlayer would not be appropriate on 2G.)
• My testing was not only via my home WiFi access connection but also at several remote locations while traveling in the California Bay Area last week and at a Canadian Hotspot Network access point in a Starbucks.
• Operating any other N95 application does appear to require that you turn off the SlingPlayer. For instance, attempting to perform an Outlook synchronization resulted in video interruptions.

SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian and Truphone represent two mobile device applications that demand the bandwidth and speeds of either WiFi or 3G protocols to operate successfully. Skype Mobile for Windows is another example of a mobile device application that requires these wireless protocols. Now that Blackberry supports WiFi on their new Curve 8320 or Blackberry 8820, can Blackberry support for these three applications be far behind?

Currently SlingPlayer Mobile and Truphone give me the opportunity to take advantage of these applications, not only while carrying out tasks around the house but also at any WiFi hotspot, whether a friend's private home, a hotel network or in a hotspot network's retail locations (usually at lower costs than a 3G wireless data plan). And it provides one more reason to ensure that I always carry my WiFi Travel Router in my luggage. [As a footnote, this picture where the splash demonstrates the resolution quality: Woody (AquaMan) Austin demonstrates the water chip shot from a pond beside the 14th green at Royal Montreal; on the follow through he fell face first into the pond.]

Posted by Jim Courtney at 03:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)