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Niklas Zenström, CEO Skype, a division of eBay |
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Tuesday, 25 October 2005 |
Defends eBay acquisition of Skype and introduces Skype Groups.
Body: Interesting character presented at lunch during the Internet Telephony. Strong and simple vision - using the Internet for calls ought to be a simple and natural thing. 61 million subscribers, 170,000 new users every day.
The acquisition by eBay was a case for accelerating the growth of Skype and aligning the complementary business goals of eBay and Skype. eBay is doing for ecommerce what Skype is doing for VoIP. Places for synergy:
- PayPal is a payment method, big in USA, but untapped in EMEA. Skype plans to lead the charge in European adoption of PayPal by various ecommerce sites and services.
- Using click-to-call of Skype to 'reduce friction' between buyers and sellers on eBay.
- eBay can accelerate Skype's introduction to the USA. Most users, as I understood Niklas are Europeans.
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The Value of Video Communications
