All-You-Can-Eat SkypeOut!
Skype - along with GMail, Ecto and the MacBook - is one of my favourite everyday technology tools. The ability to use talk and chat using such a ubiquitous tool is truly powerful and useful. What’s been particularly nice is the ability to make free SkypeOut calls within North American for the past several months. Today, Skype unveiled a new SkypeOut calling plan that allows for unlimited calls within North America for $29.95 a year (anyone who signs up before Jan. 31, 2007 receives a 50% discount.) To me, it’s a no-brainer. Sign me up right now!
While Skype has more than 130 million registered users, it’s my belief the service is barely scratching its potential from a user and revenue perspective. Let’s start with the revenue side of the house. Sure, Skype has been selling SkypeOut, SkypeIn and other premium services for awhile but the all-you-can-eat SkypeOut package is a step toward making Skype more of a mainstream service given it’s an easier sell - and buy - than buying credits and the having to refill them from time to time. Of course, it would really rock is Skype unveiled an all-you-can-eat SkypeIn/SkypeOut package.
If you really want to bullish about Skype, 2007 could be the year that the registered user number really becomes relevant other than being a very big number. Let’s assume Skype attracts 2% of its registered users to subscribe to the new SkypeOut package, that works out to $80-million in revenue (excluding the early-bird discount). Is that number realistic? Are there really 2.6 million Skype users willing to pay for all-you-can-eat SkypeOut?
Taking a strategic step back, the SkypeOut plan could also suggest how eBay is starting to put its stamp on the business (aside from the numerous management shuffles). Wit $4.2-bllion on the table, eBay is starting to make aggressive moves to leverage an investment that continues to puzzle many people. That said, the more Skype’s revenue grows, the more the deal starts to look reasonable - something that was difficult to assume a year ago when the deal was unveiled.
For more thoughts, check out Alec Saunders, Andy Abramson and MakeYouGoHmm.
