The speculation is that Skype is meeting Netscape’s fate. During earlier 90s, Netscape was the most prominent in terms of usage share but lost most of its share to Internet Explorer (Microsoft) during the first browser war. Is this going to happen with Skype, the most popular VoIP application that eBay owned with great expectation?
Martin Geddes, a former consultant at Skype Journal doubted,
Skype is in danger of becoming the Netscape of voice over Internet protocol phone companies.
He went on saying,
Skype may prove that you can be the first to innovate a piece of software but the last to find a way to make money from it.
As known earlier, the largest online auctioneer, eBay acquired Skype for $2.6 billion in September 2005 under the assumption that some 55 million users who had downloaded Skype’s free VoIP software would strengthen eBay’s online auction and PayPal payment business, driving sales and profit. However, eBay failed to gain much of it .
Few days back, eBay has added ‘Skype Me’ button in more categories. Will it prove an efficient move?
Skype’s president Kazim commented that eBay expects Skype to generate its first operating profit by the end of 2007.
As of now, eBay is struggling to make profit from its Skype expenditure. If the Skype continues to its lackluster performance, it is not surprising to consider ‘Skype is Netscape of voice over Internet protocol phone companies’.
