eBay, PayPal, Skype by the Numbers

On reviewing my notes from last week’s eBay DevCon and eBay Live, some interesting numbers came out in the various sessions: eBay: last year sold a “Gross Merchandise Value” of $44B, representing 14% of all ecommerce on the Net. PayPal’s highest growth is in “off-Ebay” commerce. Last quarter (Q1-06) “Off-eBay” transactions grew by 59% while [...]

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Commentary on “Skype Comes of Age”

Alec Saunders has posted his impressions from afar of information coming out of the eBay/Skype Developers Conference. Some observations: The conference definitely set a baseline for what to expect from Skype in terms of API evolution, eBay and PayPal integration and developer partner support. And it represented a major milestone in the value eBay is [...]

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Incremental Approach to eBay/Skype Integration

Perhaps the biggest news coming out of Meg Whitman’s keynote this evening was that eBay will walk before they run with Skype integration. Basically, after stating that they want to use Skype to facilitate trade, especially in higher value items, they will tomorrow announce details of a program to test Skype in selected categories. eBay [...]

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About Those Grayed/Greyed out SMS Menu lines

About Those Grayed/Greyed out SMS Menu lines

Recently Alec Saunders wrote a post that caused me to attempt to send him an SMS message; however, when I right clicked on his name, the “Send SMS Message” line was grayed/greyed out. (This is a bilingual post; being a Canadian we try to satisfy all audiences). During my interview this morning with Peter Kalmström, [...]

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Skype API Developer Program: View from the Top

Skype API Developer Program: View from the Top

I just spent twenty minutes interviewing Lenn Pryor, Director of Skype’s Developer Platform Business Unit. Lenn joined Skype just over a year ago; that year has provided plenty of opportunity to not only to assess the potential but also to make the changes required to have a successful Developer Platform business. Skype Journal: Lenn, what [...]

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Skype DevCon Session: The Future of the API

Skype DevCon Session: The Future of the API

The Session “Servers and Plug-Ins: The Future of the API“, led by Mat Taylor, Skype’s API Product Manager, provided the Skype API roadmap for the API’s over the next six to nine months. (Click the link above for the slideshow.) Mat started out by reviewing the current status and highlighting what he felt were the [...]

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Recipe for a Sustainable Skype Partner Business

At a session on business opportunities for the Skype API’s this afternoon. Charles Carleton, CEO of Jyve.com, gave a presentation on the recently launched Jyve Pro service. In the ensuing Q&A he commented on how his business relationship with Skyp. Key elements of Jyve Pro: Jyve Pro allows “experts” to charge for services delivered via [...]

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eBay Live: Quick Notes re Skype in Opening Keynotes

eBay Live kicked off this morning with presentations by senior executives of eBay, PayPal and Skype. This is an event that focuses on the key role that developer partners play in the growth of the various eBay properties. A more complete report will follow shortly; however, a couple of points to quickly note: In his [...]

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Skype for Mobile Trial Demonstrates How Windows Mobile 5 is NOT a Blackberry Killer…

Last weekend an acquaintance wanted to demonstrate how Skype worked on his recently acquired Windows Mobile 5-based UTStarcomm PPC6700 mobile phone. The phone was operating on a Bell Mobility account using CDMA for the phone protocol and 1xEV-DO for data. One rather impressive feature is the keyboard that slides out sideways from under the main [...]

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Data in Support of the Voice 2.0 Manifesto

Data in Support of the Voice 2.0 Manifesto

With the turbulent migration to VoIP occurring in 2006, it will be interesting to track usage and subscriber data to support the impact of VoIP and Voice 2.0 business models. A couple of items that appeared this week: Skype vs Vonage in the UK: Heather Hopkins of Hitwise, an online Internet usage monitoring service, has [...]

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