Maybe I'm Wrong about Skype
Skype announced today more than 1M people have “enjoyed” its premium-based SkypeOut service, which lets its users connect to the PSTN network. “Our one million SkypeOut users prove that savvy consumers will pay for value - and we will continue to delight users by delivering the software and services they seek to realize the potential of modern communication,” said Skype CEO and co-founder Niklas Zennström.
It appears Skype may be a disruptive technology with staying power. I've been a long-time Skype skeptic over concerns about its business model. In particular, I have not been convinced that enough people are willing to pay for its premium services. One should be careful about how Skype accounts for the 1M SkypeOut users. They may be people who have paid to use SkypeOut at some point, or people currently paying a monthly fee for SkypeOut. It's difficult to tell for sure.
Sure, Skype has more than 29 million users but until the company provides more financial data than registered users and number of minutes used, it's impossible to get a handle on whether this is just cool technology or a real business.
