Skype: More Data, Please
Skype Journal, which usually waves the flag for Skype, takes the company to task for a press release it issued last week that highlighted the fact the software has been downloaded 130 million times, including 30 million since April. Clearly, unsatisfied with knowing the tip of the iceberg, Skype Journal wants insight into metrics such as:
* number of accounts,
* number of SkypeIn numbers,
* number of SkypeOut calls made,
* number of SkypeOut minutes served (total and per capita),
* number of affiliate sales,
* frequency distribution of languages people choose in their profiles,
* moving averages and peaks of simultaneous users online or in calls,
* number of text conversations.
I'd also like to see the number SkypeIn and SkypeOut users, and a break-down on how frequently they use the two services. Perhaps Skype could provide ARPU as well.
Jumping on the “Now Hear This Skype” bandwagon was Skype Journal domo Stuart Henshell who slammed Skype for not supporting its independent software developer community. After going through eight different areas, he gives the company a “D” rating. Ouch!
July 11th, 2005 at 10:11 am
Perhaps their executives could leave their social security numbers and credit card expiration dates as well?
The only place a large proportion of this information is reported reliably is to the CRTC. And they ain't tellin'. (Except significantly aggregated.)
It does bring up a problem though. Financial regulators have pretty strict standardized reporting requirements. Industry regulators don't, so companies get away with misleading metrics. Is that good for competition?