Skype & social media – a bad idea?

It comes as no surprise to me that the guru duo of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis want Skype back.

For the longest time, I never understood what motivated eBay to purchase Skype from the two. Ebay had a vested interest in Paypal, since that synergy between online payment processing and online auctions/purchases seems almost perfect. But it’s seems to me that ever since the acquisition of Skype in 2005 for $2.5 billion in cash seems almost an exercise in futility.

Why would eBay have purchased Skype in the first place? The idea was, in part, a way to allow buyers to connect with sellers on a new level, since that is the first point of contention with a buyer (not being able to ask questions of the seller). But the implementation was never there. There was no synergy between the services like there is with Paypal.

Skype has a very value-added service and is a benefit to the purchaser, as long as they’re the right buyer. The trick is, of course, to find the right buyer. I venture to say that social media networks (a la Facebook, Twitter) might be the right buyers to take the company in the right direction. After all, Skype is very Web 2.0 with is feature-rich interface and now, with being ported to the iPhone and iPod Touch. If the original buyers cannot acquire their former brand back (and I do not anticipate that happening), social media networks should take a close look at this valuable asset to build increased value for their existing brand.

Don’t think this is feasible? Take for example the revenue that Skype brings in. Think of the revenue that Skype pulls in and apply it to a revenue-needy social networking firm, such as Twitter. Twitter has been lacking a sustainable revenue model for some time and it could pull in much needed cash to increase capacity in the area of servers and bandwidth. Anyone who’s used the web client will know what I’m talking about when I say Fail Whale.

Anyway, the above is just a theory that is being used to illustrate the fact that Skype is viable asset in today’s digital economy. Not to mention that Skype has room to expand in the realm of enterprise telephony. They do great strides for small businesses, as I should know. I run my podcasts and business phone systems and voicemail from Skype and I rely on them daily to put some value back into my operations.

That being said, this is a wonderful opportunity to get Twitter involved. Twitter owes it’s success, at least in part, to the fact that businesses of all sizes are using it to evangelize their products, bring customer services into the home and build their brands up. This would be a wonderful tie in to offer as a package for business media down the line – business-class Twitter offering special features of Twitter for enterprise clients along with enterprise-class telephony service for one low price.

Sounds far fetched? Not so fast. Google was once as small as Twitter and look at the what the benefits of branding and increased features have done for them. Not to mention the as-yet-to-be-determined success of Grand Central.

In the digital age, anything is possible. I say that social media needs to take a look at this new way of connecting or suffer the effects of the dot.com bubble all over again.

With the dangers of this economy, can anyone afford to think inside the box anymore?

Product Review: Skype for the iPhone

The dialpad on Skype for the iPhone

When you first launch Skype for the iPhone, you notice it’s aptly stated splash screen, giving a familiar sight to a new interface. It gives you the impression that it is the relative of it’s much older cousin on your Mac or PC. The application’s coloration, style and navigation tell you that it’s just as intuitive as the desktop version only more portable.

The interface is complete intuitive with 5 icons, representing different sections within the application, at the bottom of the screen. It blends the familiar iPhone interface with the functionality of Skype for a truly unique experience unlike any other VOIP application for this platform.

The application places you on the Contacts screen. This is where you can navigate through your list of contacts for calling or if you tap on a Skype contact, you’ll get a listing of their screen name, their current status message or get the option to chat right through the application.  Quickly sort from your online and offline contacts with a touch of the Online tab at the top or look up a contact with the built-in search function. In the following screen – Chats – you can track your past and current chats through the interface.

A call in progress

The Call screen offers the ability to use your iPhone over a wi-fi connection or for those with a second generation iPod Touch, you can use this with your SkypeOut account in conjunction with a microphone-enabled headset. It is important to note that currently, calls cannot be placed over 3G or other cell phone networks. On the dialpad, there is a button displaying your address book icon, so you can easily place a call to anyone in your iPhone’s contact list. You can reference placed, missed and received calls through the History button.

You can also modify your profile details, check your account credit, and check the status of your voicemail and SkypeOut number. With a touch of the camera icon in the upper left of the screen, it’s even easy to change your profile icon with a new photo from the iPhone’s built-in camera or you can choose from any image already in the phone’s photo
gallery.

My take – I would rate this product a 5 out of 5 stars. I can definitely see Skype for the iPhone becoming the next big thing in VOIP and I would encourage anyone, especially those users with a second generation iPod Touch to install this application.  Cell phone carriers should take note of the call clarity.  It really makes up for the lack of a phone in the Touch, although first generation users beware – the voice feature does not work on that model.  It has yet to be seen if Bluetooth will be activated on the first gen touch to make that a viable work around (I have a sneaking suspicion it won’t). Bluetooth technology, as some of you may know, will be an added feature in the iPhone 3.0 software update coming later this year.