If Only Users Were Gold: Skype Hits 10M Simultaneous Users Mark

Congrats Skype!

If I was Skpe/Ebay .. I would start charging $1 a month

…and, they’re still under severe threat from a good phone VOIP… had Microsoft done it, including messenger with the zune, or apple included ichat in their phone, skype would be losing relevance–rapidly.

Google might bring it up; of course. And Apple still might do it.

It’s just absurd that we still pay long distance, and we still pay as a function of talk time. Do we pay for long-distance email? Do we pay for short versus large emails?

The real opening in this space is in a phone factor, not looking at a computer. If skype doesn’t move fast, someone else will deliver. (Today Jobs mentions third party apps on the iPhone, so skype better get to work on it).

But….Skype makes a ton of money - just less than they said they would.

How much does skpe make and how many users do they have ?

How much does skype make and how many users do they have ?

Skype is doing some innovative stuff to get people (myself being one of them) to pay. I just saw this:
http://www.skype.com/campaigns/trialpay_v1

I just bought a pair of jeans and a shirt at Gap and got 8 hours of SkypeOut credit free. The way I understand it, companies like Gap, Blockbuster, GEICO, etc pay an acquisition fee to get customers. This might be greater than the cost of minutes, so Skype still makes money.

I hadn’t paid for Skype credits since time immemorial but this was a good deal…imagine how many people will buy flowers for Valentine’s Day! If they do this right I bet it could have a big impact on their revenue figures…

Maybe the obvious solution is to limit the free SKype calls to 180 minutes a month or something. To start charging those who use Skype excessively. Maybe things will change if phones like the iPhone or gadgets like iPod Touch are Skype capable. … Thats what I am waiting for, a mobile device that I can make use of the free wireless zones in my home, friends homes and in town.

If Skype-Out only reported your Skype-In number in your CID, then they’d have a lot more uptake, especially with businesses. But they don’t, so… meh! Working with SIP ATA’s would certainly help, too.

Skype is Hype!
I made that one up, anyone else who uses it must credit me!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

It’s a really decent figure, but I guess that means 10m unique users with Skype installed on their PC who happened to have them turned on and connected to the internet? I.e. they weren’t actually using Skype - they were just ‘connected’.

Sounds like clever PR spin IMHO.

Thanks for your post. You are so right in pointing out that “lots of users don’t always translate into lots of money.” Off the charts valuations for startups with no business model to speak of puts us right back into pre-Bubble behavior. But that might not be so bad as web leaders, bloggers, and journalists point out in a debate you are welcome to join:

A Burst Bubble is Just What Web 2.0 Needs
http://www.auditoriumA.com/blo.....needs.html

I am surprised they did not go after Facebook and went to MySpace instead!

“lots of users don’t always translate into lots of money”

Sure, but it increases your success rate. So the probability of making money given lots of users is going to be a lot higher — once you hit the switch on a way that successfully monetizes, you won’t have to worry about building the users.

It’s always great to build a solid business revenue model, etc. but the way the web tech grows at the speed of light, it seems like now you have to be able to create a solid revenue model at the same time that you virally grow your product.

New game. New rules.

- Boris M. Silver

This seems like another case of myopic stockholders ignoring the long-term growth potential of a site that has a steady revenue and millions of satisfied users. It will pay off for Ebay in the long-run—just not in the immediate time frame they were hoping for.

10M concurrent users in no small technical achievement. I do agree that it needs to be balanced with revenue and profit. I am not sure how Skype makes money outside of they premium service (Skype-In/Out). Does anybody know what percentage of the 10M were paying customers?

The number of simultaneous users is meaningless unless you put it in context. Over 200,000,000 users have registered with Skype since its launch. That’s both a fantastic achievement, but also an extremely devastating revelation, because it means merely 10,000,000/200,000,000= 5% of its registrants were online simultaneously at its ALL TIME peak. That means Skype users have only a 1 in 20 shot of actually reaching somebody they know on there when they log on.

See, that’s why when I hear the name Skype, I hear crickets.

I am a subscriber to Skype - including In/Out and have a Linksys Skype phone…I pay.

Anyone regularly use any other voip other than skype? what is the comparison?
would you guys be interested in seeing short ads on skype (cool stuff, offers etc, relevant stuff that you WANT to eyeball) in exchange for free skype out minutes?
Got some interesting ideas, and would welcome your views. Thanks.
ps I’m in the UK, so still in the 14th century!