News

The Hype over Skype: Can It Go the Distance?

(August 12, 2005 - knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu) - Although Skype, which provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony services and PC-to-PC calling, turns two years old on August 29, it remains unclear what kind of business this relative newcomer will turn out to be. Skype could remain a mere fad for techies, become a next-generation communications platform or evolve into the next eBay or Google, say Wharton experts. What's certain, however, is that Skype, which has offices in Estonia, London, San Francisco, Korea and Japan, is worth watching. As of August 4, its software had been downloaded nearly 145 million times and the company claims to have 47 million people using its services. Skype is an "underappreciated phenomenon in telecom," says one Wharton professor.

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(Comment from O2P: Skype is an amazing service that has the potential to transform the worldwide communications industry....and in the process threaten traditional carriers. It offers a vast opportunity, but also a big threat to entrenched interests that have spent huge sums to build physical infrastructure. The article referenced above is worth reading. For those of you not yet subscribed to Skype, you should consider it. There is no cost. On a personal note, yesterday I held a 3-party teleconference with a person in the U.S. and another in South Africa. Reception was better than over the phone, and the total cost to all three parties was nil. We spoke for about 30 minutes Can you beat that?.)