Income generation?

I downloaded yesterday the new Skype Beta version 3.2.0.115

I immediately noticed a difference with the previous version 3.2.0.82, see the pictures below.


Although in both cases contacts are sorted according to their online status, in the new version two categories are mixed up:

• Online contacts
• Contacts with call forwarding

And they made the second category look very much alike the “online” one: same colour instead of the previous orange.

It could of course be a programming mistake, but the combination of changing the colour AND the sorting makes me think this is deliberate. Some inattentive persons will think their contact is online, and will place the call, and … the contact person will pay a SkypeOut communication without the caller noticing!

Not a problem for the caller of course, although disturbing somebody who isn’t online isn’t always very advisable.

But sure this could generate some supplementary income for Skype.

I still hope this is a mistake, and that they will correct this. I believe the sorting should indeed be according the “online Status”.

Headquarters in New York?

Did Skype move to New York?

Today i checked the RSS feed of Skype for data on number of downloads and users online.

My surprise was this:
9337682 Users Online Now Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:15:01 -0400

This is New York time!

In the past the time was mentioned in GMT +0!

By the way, 9337682 concurrent users online is the highest number i ever saw. Therefore Skype is still growing ... slowly!

6 out of 7

Today i was invited to a discussion about MSN. From the 7 persons present in the room (3 men, 3 women, plus the meeting leader - a man, all between 40 and 50 years old), only one man didn't know what Skype is.

The sample is not statistically relevant of course, but anyway, this could confirm my opinion that Skype has reached some saturation level within the "active internet population".

Only one other alternative communication tool was mentioned in the discussion: a voice application used by gamers ... X-Fire if i remember well! No mention of Google Talk, VoIPStunt, Jajah, Gizmo or anything else!

Where is the money?

Which kind of customers is Skype tackling?

• Small businesses?
• Adults?
• Kids and youth?
• Retired persons?
• Big businesses?
• Everybody?

I don’t know, but i belong to the two first categories, and i think Skype is shifting away from my needs!

Would you, as a businessman, download something that showed this …
when changing your avatar? And yes, believe me, i like the “original” avatar function!

The screen above lets you create

• Klonies
• Weemees

whatever this is. It isn’t free, and has (for my purposes) NO utility.

I hope for them (Skype) they tackle the right money generating public with their Klomees and Weenies, but i doubt it!