Gear

• Sungjut TangoX Nano UMPC Comes With Integrated, Detachable Skype Phone. Pretty, tiny, tablet. Upside: you always have a USB Skype phone with dial pad. Downside: it's a handset and Skype calls are usually 6-20 minutes long. Akihabara News via Gizmodo.

• Demo of Skype for the Nokia N73 on YouTube. Not generally available
  

• Skype Korea will sell Belkin Wi-Fi phones at 50 E-Mart stores in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.

• Skype video calls via satellite from the ASUS Eee solid-state drive laptop. For mountaineers.

Software

• Ecamm Call Recorder for Skype (Mac) was upgraded to v2.3. "Adds compatibility with Skype for Mac v2.7. Adds new two-track video recording option. Enhanced recorded video quality. Includes updated Convert To MP3 and Convert To AAC utilities."

• BT launches Go!Messenger on the Sony PSP, a Skype-competitive voice/IM/video client. Only works in system now, but a "call out" service coming soon.

At work

• This anonymous security blogger warns IT to stay away from Skype. Nice list of fears, most negligible. Shows the attitudes but not the evidence.

• On the other hand, John Edwards of VoIP-News runs a side-by-side comparison of Skype vs. Business VoIP. After comparing installation, cost, features, scalability, management, reliability and support:

  "In terms of cost and simplicity, Skype beats the competition hands down. But businesses looking for guaranteed support and service, as well as a high degree of control over their IP telephony system, will want to opt for some type of business VoIP deployment."

And you missed a fun "Ekisuka" party last night for Excite and Skype users.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

To repeat: Skype Pro for North America consolidates Skype Unlimited North America and other services - same cost, extra benefits

One of the challenges for Skype's new CEO will be to position marketing, especially marketing communications, as a strategic tool for effectively communicating changes and transitions at Skype. In December Skype Journal came out with the story "Skype Pro Replaces Skype Unlimited North America Plan". But it seems that the message still needs fuller communication within Skype's own website as I have now encountered a couple of situations where this change was not readily understood.

To go over the history:

• In May, 2006 Skype announced free SkypeOut for all calls to the PSTN originating and terminating within United States and Canada. At the time they announced that this offering would end December 31, 2006.
  
• In December, 2006, Skype announced for 2007 their Skype Unlimited North America plan whereby for US$29.95 (C$34.95) U.S. and Canadian Skypers could have unlimited calling to the PSTN, again for 12 months of calls originating and terminating within U.S. and Canada. This plan again was to last to December 31, 2007 but with a review to consider what to offer in 2008. As an inducement to sign up early, all those who subscribed prior to January 31, 2007 received a 50% discount. The biggest shock at this point was having users realize they got one year, not one month, of unlimited calling for such a low price.
  
• In January, 2007 Skype announced Connection Fees - a per call fee for making a connection, based on country of call origination. This fee amounts to 3.9 cents for call originating in United States and 5.9 cents for call originating in Canada (who said there was no telecomm monopoly in Canada?). However, the Connection Fee did not apply for calls made under the Skype North America plan; as a result this change was masked from Unlimited North America subscribers unless you made calls outside North America. At the same time they announced a new Skype Pro offering for Skypers in certain European countries, involving fixed monthly cost for calls to landline phones within the home country.
  
• In August, 2007, with the release of Skype 3.5 that introduced Call Transfer (free for Skype-to-Skype call transfers), Skype announced Skype Pro for North America with the following features, for $3.00 per month - deducted monthly from your Skype Credits:

• Skype Call Transfer for SkypeIn to Skype/SkypeOut
• Skype Call Transfer for Skype to SkypeOut
• 50% reduction for annual SkypeIn number
• Free voice mail

• In December, with no press announcement, Skype consolidated Skype's Unlimited North America plan into Skype Pro such that there is again one offering for U.S. and Canadian Skypers involving, for $3.00 per month deducted from your Skype Credits:

• Unlimited calling to both landline and mobile phones where the call both originates and terminates within U.S. and Canada
• When traveling in any of 28 countries (Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Mexico, etc.) free landline calls within the country you are visiting
• A fair use policy applies to both the above features
• Call transfer: SkypeIn to Skype/SkypeOut and Skype to SkypeOut
• 60% reduction on annual SkypeIn fee for an online number
• Voice Mail
• Skype-To-Go for up to six (overseas) speed dials; connection fee applies

If you subscribed to Unlimited North America during 2007 you subscription will continue to run until the expiry date. So my friend whom I helped subscribe to Unlimited North America last November can use that plan until November, 2008. Three weeks before my UNA plan expired January 8, 2008 (extended one week due to the Skype outage) I received an email from Skype alerting me to the changes outlined above.

As a result, for effectively the same price charged for Skype Unlimited North America, Skype Pro provides additional features such as free Call Transfer for connections from/to the PSTN, SkypeIn discount and free calls within a visited country while traveling. The other difference is that Skype Pro fees are deducted monthly from Skype Credits rather than paying a one-time annual subscription fee.

So while U.S. and Canadian Skypers receive additional benefits for effectively the same price with this transition, it would have behooved Skype to make some form of press release at the time. Currently I am encountering a few instances of customer confusion (and unnecessary distress) during this one year transition period. One of the challenges and achievement benchmarks for new CEO Josh Silverman will be to introduce marketing communications 101 processes into the business operations of Skype.

Tags: Skype, SkypePro, Skype Unlimited North America, Skype Connection Fees, Skype Call Transfer, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Marketing, Skype CEO, Josh Silverman

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Privacy is basic. Yet experienced designers still break our privacy expectations when trying to add value. jaxtr launched cafe jaxtr, a new tool for exploring their social conversation space. Stuart is one of Skype Journal's founders. Stuart's angry at jaxtr for showing his online behavior to people in the cafe. Breaching trust is bad. Bad for the truster, worse for the breacher's business.

The DataPortability Project's Policy Action Group is making it easier to hit the right privacy and authorization notes every time. Join the DP Policy AG Skype chat for live conversation, the Policy mailing list, and a new team wiki.

One strategy I'm proposing: a pre-flight privacy checklist for designers. I don't know all the questions you should ask before committing a design, but maybe we can make the list together. Checklists produce results for doctors and pilots, maybe it can work for social media architects.

More on privacy from Skype Journal:

• The Bavarian Intercept Proves Skype is Secure
• Are you a human? We need to CAPTCHA IM bots
• The Skype Social Network: Three Values
• PresenceNext: Authorization by Negotiation, central to Presence 2.0
• Berjikly: Self-Disclosure in VoIM
• Rights? In Social Media?
• Five things missing in the Participation Ladder
• Privacy and Prejudice: An Interruption 2.0 Manifesto for the AlwaysOn Lifestyle
• Presence: Hidden in public view
• FT: Zennström confirms Skype filters text; questions he would not answer
• What do people put in their Skype profiles?
• What will you do to protect your webcam privacy?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 01:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Lee and I coined the slogan "The Trillion Dollar Rethink" for the Emerging Communications Conference to capture the magnitude of the changes in world communication.

It turns out a trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) is only what the United States spends on telecom. Worldwide the number is really three times that. The 100 billion minutes people talked Skype-to-Skype kept money from the pockets of telephone carriers into the hands of consumers.

We're in transition to a post-telephone era.

  New modes and new media.

   Post-numeric addressing.

    Embedding of access into everyday objects.

     Immersion of talk into onlife.

      Mediated labor market arbitrage.

       Sensory fidelity never imagined when copper was laid.

eComm2008 assembles mindblowing visionaries and entrepreneurial cutthroats, telco rebels and minute-stealing traffickers, frontier architects and mad scientists, all in service to this profound change of our societies, our economies, our work, and our very lives.

You don't have to believe in change.

Just survive it.

If you're smart and lucky, maybe you can lead the change.

What's your piece of the $3 trillion pie?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 02:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

While doing a broad search through an agency for its new CEO, eBay went internally to announce this morning the appointment of shopping.com CEO Josh Silverman as Skype's new CEO effective in four weeks (March 24). From the eBay press release:

Silverman, currently CEO of Shopping.com, an eBay company, brings more than nine years of experience in running hyper-growth global consumer Internet companies. Silverman will join Skype on March 24, 2008 and report directly to John Donahoe, President and CEO-elect of eBay Inc. Michael van Swaaij, who was appointed interim CEO in October 2007, will stay actively involved with Skype.

Josh is an eBay veteran, having served, prior to his Shopping.com role, as General Manager for Marketplaats.nl and been involved with building eBay's classifieds business in Europe. Prior to joining eBay in 2003, he was a co-Founder and CEO of Evite, a social event planning service that I have used several times successfully, most recently for my high school's 50th anniversary reunion.

Josh does get blogging; He's already put up his first post:

So what can you expect from me? That I’m serious about wanting to build the greatest products — and the greatest company — on Earth. That doing so means listening well, being willing to think different and take risks. And in everything we do, one thing is certain: we’ll always have the best interests of the Skype community at heart.

I’m the new guy, and have a lot to learn. To really understand Skype’s cultural and technological DNA, my number one priority is to do a lot of listening and learning. With my wife and kids about to begin their adventure in Estonia as well, I have all the support I could ever need. I want to know everything about the technology, the team and the community. And I hope to share some of my observations on this very blog and see what you think, too.

So, with their business headquarters having been in London, but the primary development team in Estonia, the question arises as to why he is planning a move to Estonia? Is this a precursor to moving out of that expensive London real estate? Update: GigaOm reports that Josh intends to place himself temporarily in Tallinn where he can get a hands-on assessment of the technology team and direction. He subsequently intends to move to London.

And my second question has to be, given you want some time to learn-and-listen,: "How many days do you have to be on board to make some significant statements on the forthcoming direction of Skype?" (Recalling, tongue-in-cheek, Jerry Yang's "100 Days" at Yahoo that eventually resulted in an unfriendly offer from Microsoft.)

Welcome, Josh! You have your challenges, but if you succeed, Skype can become one of the most powerful communications forces going for building a peaceful world as we witness power shifts from centralized enterprises and organizations to the individual. We wish you luck as you take on your responsibilities.

Tags: Skype, eBay, Shopping.com, Josh Silverman

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Peter Griffin (no relation to the fictional character) field tested Skype on the Sony PSP during a recent trip to Europe. Ends:

All up a decent, free add-on for the PSP and one that makes the device even more attractive for those with access to Wi-fi at home and out on the road. One of the best Skype implementations I've seen since the classy Netgear Skype handset that did away with any need for peripheral hardware.

Hmmm. What could Skype be like on a Wii?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Takumi Ono tells a loving story about using Skype to talk with her father.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

VoIP News has come out with a post discussing what author Jim Higdon deems are "The 5 Best Skype Extras". Jim presents a most interesting perspective on the dyslexic nature of Skype with its superb technology yet turbulent business performance in his statement:

With an unsteady performance since its purchase by eBay Inc., its founder’s costly departure, the emergence of Skype spam, significant competition, outages and poor customer service, many have speculated that Skype could be the next item for auction at eBay. Yet, despite all the bad news and crabby blog posts, more than 100 million people worldwide are registered Skype users, and 60,000 new users sign up every day.

A few comments:

• In my work I am finding that "collaboration" is a catch-all for any service providing an opportunity for a "group", whether two parties or several hundred, and whether unilaterally or interactively, to concurrently communicate together. Ranks right up there in terms of confusion and misuse with the phrase "Unified Communications". Yugma Skype Edition and Lotus Sametime Unyte are desktop sharing applications providing support for conversations, whether voice, text and/or video, while Convenos and Webex historically have provided fully-featured virtual office and virtual conferencing capabilities with voice as an embedded element of the overall collaborative experience.. Different tools for different target markets here
  
• With so many of my network of contacts acquiring Macs these days, I do find that, with Yugma's cross-platform capability which Jim highlights, I am using it as my de facto desktop sharing application in presentations and discussions.
  
• Having had a chance to see both the Sony PlayStationPortable and Sony mylo COM-2 at CES, I have to say the latter offers the more intriguing embedding of Skype. Whereas the PSP only offers voice, the second generation mylo offers both voice and IM along with use of Skype file transfer to send pictures and other files. In fact, I have seen one review where the new mylo should be considered as good competition for the iPod Touch.
  
• Hat tip to Andy for pointing out Jim's post. Note Andy's comments:

What I'm seeing with the add-ins is how Skype has really become a pipe within a pipe, something I felt was coming around the time of eBay's acquisition. With each add-in it becomes easier and easier for two way communications users to build their world around Skype for many interactive, one on one activities, like web conferencing and desktop sharing. This Top 5 list bears that out once again.

Other Skype Journal posts on Jim's Top 5:

• Skylook: A Skype Extras Success Story
• A Most Interesting Skype Mashup: OnState Expands Into Unified Messaging
• OnState CEO Provides More Background
• Brandon Holland and His Affinity for the Echo123 Girl (Skype on AppleTV)

Tags: Skype, Skype Extras, VoIP News, Jim Higdon, VoIP Watch, Sony PlayStationPortable, Sony mylo, Andy Abramson, Skylook, AppleTV, OnState Communications, OnState Unified Messaging

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Jean has pointed out the crossing of 12 million concurrent users online earlier today. And Skype finally released a number that won't help the investment analysts: Skype usage has passed the 100 billion minute mark. So what has the blogsphere said?

• Eric Schonfeld at Tech Crunch seems to have a minute-to-call converter with a 1:1 ratio. But nowhere do I see Skype giving out the average number of minutes per call.
• Villu Arak at Skype has looked up other milestones that use the number 100 billion.
• Jon Arnold notes both milestones and comments:

Skype may have its share of challenges, but they have definitely taken telephony where it's never been before, and of course are trying to do the same now with video. You only hit 100 billion once, and it's a great testament to what Niklas and Janus started only a few years ago, and I'd say it's definitely worthy of recognition. And for what it's worth, I've used Skype more today than I have in ages, so in my very small way, I'm helping the cause.

But let's get one number straight: 276 million accounts have been registered since day one, not 276 million users. There are lots of reasons to have multiple accounts and I can see more as Skype movers towards 0.2  trillion minutes of calling time.

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype reached around 19h GMT 12 million concurrent users online on Monday, this for the first time ever. It went from 11 to 12 million in 42 days.This is an absolute speed record. The previous record million “speed” was 63 days in March 2006.

In the past the peaks were somewhere between 16h and 17h GMT. Now it occurs about two hours later. This shows a recent growth in the Americas. Or, in other words, they are catching up with the usage rate of the Europeans.

And when will Asia catch up? When it does, we should see lesser fluctuations of the number of concurrent users online between day and night, or at least a change in the patterns of the curve.

Posted by Jean Mercier at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My favorites of the recent Comcast commercials are the "Big Old Expensive Phone Company" television spots by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

• BOEPC Broadway picks on telco DSL providers for being big, old, expensive, slow.
• BOEPC Guitar skewers phone companies for offering television.

The words are biting and the tunes are catchy kitsch; I sang along (video and lyrics below).

Good thing they don't compare their own Big Old Expensive Cable Company to Skype, Skype delivering comparable voice services for one tenth the price. Of course Skype's multimodal communication adds encryption, free calling in a worldwide network, instant messaging, video calls (conferencing soon), collaborative chats, file sharing, presence, mobile clients, desk phones, etc. Skype is still an ankle biter with about 500 employees (vs. AT&T's 300,000; get the T-shirt). Skypes path of innovation proves demand and opportunity. 

The cable part of the ISP oligopoly picks on the telco part for voice and TV applications running on their capital intensive distribution system.

Skype is only one disrupter (more at eComm2008). Cannot wait to see what commercials get pulled out for Microsoft and Google. 

BOEPC Broadway
(in the style of an over the top production number)

You're gonna pay.
(You're gonna pay)
You're gonna pay and pay
just to keep your phone
the same old way.

cause we're big
(really big)
and we're old.
(We're so old)
we're the Big Old Expensive Phone Com-pa-ny!

We cost much more than Comcast digital voice
and we do what we please
just check out your monthly bill
and look at all those fees

if you switch to Comcast
you will miss our fees
we're the big old expensive phone com-pa-ny

BOEPC Guitar
(in the style of a country or rock anthem)

America, ain't it great to be
with the Big Old Expensive Phone Company.
We're big and old and our profits are high
High like the eagle soaring in the sky

yeah

We'll do anything
just to make you pay
so please don't switch to
the Comcast triple play

Cause we've got TV service now too
it's not really our area of expertise
but we'll sell it to you
all you've got to do is pay

We can do TV too
just to boost our revenue.
Comcast ain't right for you.
stick with us
and we'll stick it to you.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the past few weeks I have been calling into Alec Saunders' daily SquawkBox where he uses iotum's Free Conference Call on Facebook to discuss (and record) the issues of the day, usually with five to ten participants. In what was the best attended (17 participants) and most lively session yet, Dan York hosted (while Alec flew home from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain) a very engaging interview with Lee Dryburgh, founder of the Emerging Communications Conference (eComm 2008). Later Dan interviewed Thomas Howe, one of the eComm speakers and threw the session open for questions and commentary.

When Alec arrived home this afternoon, he put up a post on today's SquawkBox where you can also click to hear the entire animated discussion.

At one point I had to challenge the contention that Skype usage is falling off. During the past week, concurrent online users has approached (but not crossed) 12 million around noon hour EST (GMT-5) - a long way from the sub-10 million numbers prior to Christmas. (And Borderless Communicator Hudson Barton figures there had to be 1.68 million new Skype users in the past month - I captured today's snapshot since his charts are updated very frequently.) Also, while not widely publicized, Skype accounts from North America almost doubled in 2007 using eBay's reported U.S. percentages as a proxy where US revenue increased 85%. Now if eBay would just release the same customer numbers as released by other US telcos instead of the SEC required bare minimum...

Lee and I briefly chatted about the complex issue of data portability and how it plays in this revolution on the call, but this is a huge problem that we're really only beginning to understand. The telecom industry doesn't understand it all, but the innovators are really beginning to grasp it's full import. Data, our personal data, is a resource. In the world of social media, it may be our most important personal resource. As we learn how to share it effectively with our devices, and with our family, friends and colleagues, the ability to store all this information under our own control somewhere in the "cloud" so it can be accessed any time, anywhere from any device.

Tags: eComm 2008, SquawkBox, Dan York, Lee Dryburgh, Thomas Howe, Skype, Hudson Barton, Alec Saunders, Free Conference Call on Facebook, eBay, Ken Camp, Sheryl Breuker

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Skype's Halina Mugame, editor of the Skype Developer Program newsletter and weblog, yesterday interviewed OnState CEO Pat Kelly and started her interview, "Less Mess with Unified Messaging", by referencing Skype Journal's recent post announcing OnState's Unified Messaging offering. Questions included:

• Tell us more about this new product. In comparison with current OnState Call Center solution, what new features will be made available via mash-up with Zimbra?
• What makes Zimbra a good solution to integrate with OnState?

But the best line is the last:

Oh, and the important bit, they do all this at an industry-redefining price point.

Read Halina's full post for more background on how OnState's Unified Messaging offering evolved out of their Call Center service.

Tags: Skype, OnState, OnState Unified Messaging, Halina Mugame, Pat Kelly

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This evening Lee Dryburgh, who took the initiative (and risk) to launch the forthcoming Emerging Communications Conference (eComm 2008) issued a "Call for Telecom Industry Wake-Up" where he states:

Communications innovation has been stagnant, in my opinion, for nearly a decade. Telecommunications and Internet communications both seem to be at somewhat of an impasse. The communications industry needs a forum to help break through the stagnancy and highlight the huge opportunity space that is emerging.

Further on Lee states:

The decade long planned protocol basis for delivering a multi-modal client into consumer play (SIP/SIMPLE) has shown little traction; it should be noted that this is the same protocol basis that operators are now hinging their future services around.

Instead four years ago a single private company (Skype) delivered a multi-modal client which was architecturally novel (peer-to-peer based), using their own proprietary protocol and which has gone on to be the most downloaded program in Internet history. So the SIP/SIMPLE vision to “re-engineer the telephone system from the ground up” is off course at best.

Over two years ago Alec Saunders issued his Voice 2.0 Manifesto, pointing out that the value-add for voice going forward will be in the applications. Thomas Howe, with many years' experience involving communications and web services, is building a business around Communications Enhanced Business Processes (CEBP). Dan York is expressing frustration in the realization of interoperability between Skype and other VoIP communications networks. In Lee's interview two weeks ago with Jonathan Christensen, one of those involved in the early days of SIP and now responsible for much of the new technology coming out of Skype, (and the leadoff keynote speaker at eComm 2008), Jonathan laments that..

the vision of the early SIP founders has been largely unrealized in the SIP world. SIP is typically just used for these very mundane trunking applications, like the one that we have, or sending calls between two networks and it's just calls. The vision of multi-modal communications and rich end points has largely failed within the same.

Interesting starting points for the conversations and presentations at eComm 2008. If you're in the telecom business responsible for future ongoing revenues or launching new services you want to attend (and participate). Register here and use "skypejournal08" as a discount code to save 15%.

Tags: eComm 2008, Lee Dryburgh, Alec Saunders, Voice 2.0 Manifesto, Thomas Howe, CEBP, Jonathan Christensen, Skype

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 06:51 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nobody makes greeting cards with modern phones. No cards with kittens texting "i luv u".  Do we make our own photos and videos, shared them by phone, no longer relying on publishers to express our affections?

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomorrow, Alec Saunders will wrap up coverage from 3GSM / Mobile World Congress on Thursday's Squawk Box show. 8:00 AM Pacific, 11:00 AM Eastern, 16:00 / 4 PM London.

The Emerging Communications Conference is Friday's topic. Alec is traveling so Dan York, Thomas Howe and Lee Dryburgh will discuss EComm2008's themes, speakers, on site events. I'm sure voice mashups will be on the agenda. Tune in an hour earlier on Friday: 7:00 AM Pacific, 10:00 AM Eastern, 15:00 / 3 PM London.

You can catch up on Barcelona with half-hour episodes from Monday (mostly Nokia news), Tuesday, and Wednesday (Google search on new Nokia phones, Microsoft buying Danger of Sidekick fame, Android prototypes, AJAX on Nokia series 60).

Posted by Phil Wolff at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Buried in the Yahoo assets that Microsoft covets is recently acquired Zimbra, "a leader in Open Source, next generation messaging and collaboration software". Amongst Zimbra's product line, the initial offering of Zimbra's Unified Messaging is based on a partnership with Asterisk, the open source VoIP provider. Zimbra has an extensive list of service provider, business and education customers; Comcast has teamed up with Zimbra to offer Comcast's Unified Messaging portal. And I have personally heard positive comments about Zimbra from a couple of third parties.

Yesterday, OnState Communications, provider of the OnState Call Center for Skype announced an expansion of their product line to add OnState Unified Messaging for Skype - a mashup of OnState, Skype and Zimbra. Basically this is a hosted service that involves, for the user, a web client along with an agent that captures Skype chat sessions, on-demand voice recording and voice mail, allows tagging of these conversations and integration with email, a calendar and an address book such as to provide one point access to all your messaging activities. An integrated and advanced search engine with a simple WYSIWYG feature allows for rapid recovery of relevant communications in any mode. From the press release:

Managed Communications
OnState Unified Messaging for Skype routes, manages, stores and archives a range of business communications to expedite business processes and drive improved customer-contact management. Features include:

• Web 2.0 Ajax client
• integrated Skype voicemail
• dynamic call recording
• online business chat logging
• enterprise-class email and calendaring
• push-mail for mobile devices
• support for Outlook™, Thunderbird and other mail clients
• cross-mailbox search and compliance features

“With this latest offering, OnState advances its charter to deliver Web-based, enterprise-class, customer-contact management solutions at an industry-redefining price point,” noted [Pat] Kelly, [CEO of OnState].

OnState is already configuring its Unified Messaging for current OnState Call Center customers. Some of the above features, such as "push-mail for mobile devices", will come with an upgrade incorporating Zimbra 5.0 in about a month. I am in the course of evaluating OnState's Unified Messaging and hope to provide a full review once the upgraded edition is released.

In closing it is important to note the value of a service provider's reliance on an Open Source application when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. Being Open Source, Zimbra's source code is readily available to any third party. Zimbra is a classic example of building infrastructure and enhanced services around an open source application that can survive any consequences of a merger or acquisition.

Tags: Skype, OnState, Zimbra, OnState Unified Messaging, OnState Call Center, Yahoo

Powered by Qumana

Posted by Jim Courtney at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Download Skype for Mac 2.7.0.257. 38 bugfixes, 18 new API calls for the programmers, improved "stability and quality of video",  "Improved connection speed to Skype network from restrictive network environment", new (myspace) emoticon. Biggest behavioral change: The default destination folder of file transfers changed from Desktop to Downloads. Get drivers for your webcam if you like. 34 MB download, released 13 February 2008. File name: Skype_2.7.0.257.dmg

Download Skype for Linux 2.0.0.43 beta. 68 bugfixes, 7 more languages, 11 distributions. A few UI tweaks and more "X11 overlay output support for video calls (without using Xv)."  Released 6 February 2008.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Kevin Kelly posted a great column called "Better Than Free." Kevin asks what succeeds in a market where most assets are free.

When copies are super abundant, they become worthless.
When copies are super abundant, stuff which can't be copied becomes scarce and valuable.

When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied.

Well, what can't be copied?

Kevin describes "Eight Generatives," market values of products that are independent of artificial scarcity.

• Immediacy
• Personalization
• Interpretation
• Authenticity
• Accessibility
• Embodiment
• Patronage
• Findability

Skype could be instrumental in helping the online entrepreneurs bring these generatives to market.

Immediacy. Now. Even Skype's basic presence services (rough availability, mood message) create immediacy, helping you get the freshest, newest, earliest from your social network. The same plumbing, beefed up to provide rich and contextual presence, can be applied to goods and services. eBay buyers are some of the biggest consumers of alerting. So are stock traders.

Personalization. Conversation. High quality conversation shapes service personalization. What language skills should we work on today? In what style should I write that report? While some personalizing conversations can be structured, many depend on rich interpersonal give-and-take.

Interpretation. Sense making. While eBay Inc. news may be free, you might pay a premium for live color commentary of the quarterly conference call. Or analysis of a song you want to perform. Skype can be a delivery mechanism for interpretation.

Authenticity. Proof. In a world of copies, and copies of copies, the original, real thing becomes precious. Skype's authentication servers won't prevent identity theft, but they have an opportunity to learn from eBay and PayPal about providing secure, verifiable, insurable ID. I've heard of at least one con artist being arrested after a potential victim recorded the Skype call.

Accessibility. Anywhere, Anytime. People will pay to have their "free" information and services backed up and accessible. In Skypeland, this starts with trusting Skype to keep copies of my contacts and conversations, my history and logs. And I value access to my Skype social network wherever I am: on desk phones, TiVos, mobiles, cars, PDAs, computers, facebook, refrigerators, blogs, clock radios. The race is on to talk-enable the web, the universe, and everything.

Embodiment. You might download a song by 50 Cent, or even a music video. Wouldn't you prefer a live song with Curtis? Will David Allen earn more by auctioning off an hour of his coaching time on Skype, or by having you buy and read "Getting Things Done"? Live webcam-to-webcam is the highest form of experience you can have short of face-to-face. Skype's high quality video and audio add embodiment value.

Patronage. Support your artist. Even though the music is free, sometimes you just want to support an artist. Did you know you can send money to someone over Skype?

Findability. Liquid Social Capital. I couldn't find my laptop power supply in my own backpack last week. How am I supposed to find the person who spoke at a conference last week? How do I find the right one in a world with billions of people and zillions of media objects? Skype's directory services (white page people search and yellow page Skype Find) are rudimentary. Services become compelling when they make strangers discoverable through chance, search, referral, social proximity, and other methods.

As Skype, and those who seek to buy from, partner with, or compete against Skype, look to the future, you could do worse than assess new products against The Eight Generatives of Value Where The Cost of Copies Is Zero.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Great designers pursue elegance, helping users do more with a lower cognitive burden. Here's Bruno putting Skype then some other software through its paces.  

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

From comments eComm2008's Lee Dryburgh made on a mailing list about interviewing Skype's Jonathan Christensen.

Did you notice the enthusiasm of Skype towards open spectrum?...

Now the comments about something "linear" for them (Skype/eBay) but "non-linear" outside means something they consider significant/disruptive.

• I'd be expecting a fully worked application that combines ecommerce (eBay), money (PayPal) and communications (Skype).
• And I'd be expecting this application to work on handhelds, including later on those made for open spectrum networks.
• I'd also not be too surprised to see a version running on Android quite a bit later on.

It's a terribly powerful synergy when you combine commerce (markets), money exchange facilities, and communications within the same offering. And if that can be set on the back of open networks and open handsets in addition, things are terribly exciting.

So IMHO the fruit of Skype going forwards will be in:

1. increasing voice and video quality (they are like a telco R&D lab now with their team)
2. integration of comms and commerce and
3. support and development around the emerging open handset (Android) and open spectrum ecology.

When you stack up the enthusiasm at Skype towards (3) and the Google push towards (3) expect a powerful movement on "our" side.

We'll have to wait and see. A public beta of Skype 4.0 for Windows didn't fit in Skype's usual November/December launch window. It may take until eComm in mid-March to see how well Lee reads the tea leaves.

Posted by Phil Wolff at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rising like a phoenix out of the ashes of eTel, Lee Dryburgh has taken the leadership in establishing a new conference that covers the bleeding edge of emerging communications. To be held at the Computer Museum in Mountain View, CA March 12-14, 2008, eComm2008, the Emergi