2010-08-11

Geographical numbers

Why Skype looks at the USA separately, and for the rest looks at regions, not even continents, is quite funny for a “theoretically” European company. But finally they unveil something about the geographical spread of Skype users.

The first graph is the geographical distribution of Skype users. EMEA means Europe – Middle East – Africa. Interesting to see that EMEA still takes the lead compared to ALL Americas (57% compared to 27%). I would even say: Europe takes the lead in the number of Skype users, because the number of Africa and Middle-East users is probably quite smaller compared to European users. Well, historically, Skype started in Europe, and cross border phone calls are still expensive in Europe. Therefore Skype is beneficial for individual users.

The second graph is the number of Skype users compared to total internet users of the mentioned regions. Here again, if I suppose that EMEA is mainly Europe, it looks like Skype can still push its growth in the Americas and Asia. 16% of EMEA Internet users have Skype according to the data provided by Skype (therefore probably 20% or more in only Europe), while the USA scores only 9%. Again, I think that Skype is much more interesting to use in Europe than in the USA, because of the small countries, some State “quasi” monopolies in telecommunication, and therefore high international communication costs. Skype is therefore a fantastic cost cutter. Probably the USA and other big American countries don’t feel that need as much as we Europeans do!

And concerning Asia and Africa: there is still growth ahead for Skype, if these continents continue to promote the internet penetration!

11 comments:

Skype telefon guy said...

Jean, fully agree with that part about small European countries.

And Skype can increase usage of their pay products easily, especially in small EU countries, if they offer local online numbers. E.g. I'm asking for Czech online numbers for years. :-{

Ann said...

Ik heb een vraag over Skype nummers in Amerika maar ik zie nergens waar ik eventueel een vraag kan mailen.
Mijn e-mail is annknaepen@yahoo.com
skype name is GAMESMANSHIP
Alvast bedankt
Groetjes

Ann

Jean Mercier said...

To Skype telefon guy:

Yes, i also am waiting for Belgian numbers.

To Ann:
e-mail gestuurd naar uw Skynet adres.

Regards,
Jean

Nafcom said...

2 very good posts Jean! As always and very good insight of how things changed! glad I always come back to check for updates :)

doot said...

also, in Europe, it costs a little to make local calls. When I'm in Europe, I also use it to to call my friends down the street to save a few pennies.

Jean Mercier said...

Hello Doot,
Thanks for your comment. In my case, since Skype introduced a connection cost above the cost per minute, it isn't interesting anymore to use Skype to call to landlines.

Doot said...

Jean,

Sorry, I meant skype-skype.

I bounce around europe these days and I find their new blocks of minutes subscriptions really useful from time to time. $1 for an hour, no connection fee. Really comes in handy when I need it.

Jean Mercier said...

Well Doot,
indeed Skype-to-Skype is still free.
Thanks for the clarification,
Jean

Anonymous said...

Skype just increased its pay as you go rates by c.10 percent... now that's an easy way of getting a higher revenue ahead of an IPO.

charlotte said...

Skype has been a good medium to call my friends abroad..the call is really performing very well..i just love using it..its widely use now here in the Philippines

Jean Mercier said...

Hey anonymous,
Well yes, they seem to want to make their price attractive to investors.

To Charlotte,
I use Skype since the very beginning, September 2003, and indeed I love it! Now my oldest son is very far away, and I can talk with him for free with webcam. Really marvelous indeed.