Tag Archives | Andy Abramson

Alec Saunders Joins RIM

By on September 27, 2011

About 20 years ago I was managing the Canadian operation of Quarterdeck, publisher of the very popular QEMM-386 memory manager for DOS. During that period Microsoft decided they needed to upgrade DOS to include some memory management features in DOS 5 and later DOS 6. Somehow the genius developer team at Quarterdeck always managed to [...]

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Skype Group Video: It’s About the “Natural” Audio!

By on August 16, 2011

After a beta period of several months last fall, Skype launched Group Video Calling on Skype for Windows at CES 2011 as one element of its Skype Premium service. Group Video Calling on the Mac became available with the release of Skype for Mac 5.0. Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity [...]

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Qik Video Connect – Adding Support for Android

By on April 27, 2011

A month ago I wrote about the launch of Qik Video Connect, a video streaming and video mail service, on any iOS platform with a camera (iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and 4, later iPod touches with a camera). Yesterday Skype announced that Qik Video Connect not only has an upgrade for the iOS versions but [...]

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Skype for Mac 5: Returning to Ecstasy – Step 2 – The Conversation Pane

By on April 12, 2011

For over a year the author has been a keen user of Skype for Windows 5 as a Skype client that has simplicity, yet flexibility. It’s easy to manage contacts, follow conversations, handle video calls as well as archive and search conversation history. Yet, with the release of Skype for Mac 5, there has been [...]

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Skype for Mac 5 – From Ecstasy to Agony

By on April 4, 2011

For Mac devotees worldwide there has developed a significant appreciation of Skype for Mac 2.8 with it’s drawers, separate chat conversations windows, contact management algorithms and other features that present a “Mac-like” user interface. It provided both ease-of-use and flexibility across the spectrum of new to advanced users. However, there have also been cries for [...]

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Skype IPO: The Real Communications Business Disruption Adventure Begins

By on August 9, 2010

When I interviewed Skype CEO Josh Silverman at CES 2010 in January, I had asked about the timing for a Skype IPO. Josh’s response: “We’ll see. We don’t have a timeline for it. Our focus is to build a really great company. When we’re ready and the markets are ready, we’ll consider an IPO. At [...]

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Skype and Third Party Access: Getting Back to Basics

By on July 12, 2010

“Fring is not a communications platform, but only a toy or at best a testbed for shiny objects.” Comment by Hudson Barton on Andy Abramson’s post: Fring Fumbles on Cross Platform Video Chat In observing the evolution of Skype and third party access to it over the past few years I have often wondered how [...]

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Skype over Verizon: Skype Becomes a Marketing Weapon in the Wireless Carrier Arsenal – The Prelude

By on February 16, 2010

Full disclosure: This post was prepared prior to today’s press conference using information that was publicly available prior to the conference. In the second post I’ll discuss the service as announced at CES today. When you can advertise “Free phone calling internationally”, they will come! In the CES interview with Skype CEO Josh Silverman, Josh [...]

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History Making Smartphone Skype Call During LeWeb Closing Session

By on December 10, 2009

At about 5:30 (GMT+1) this afternoon members of the Skype Public Chat discussion learned that not only was there a new beta version of Skype for Windows 4.2 available for download but also Skype had released its first beta version of Skype for Symbian (for Nokia smartphones). Shortly afterwards, while listening to the final Gillmor [...]

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The Skype Spinout Version 2.0

By on November 9, 2009

So it’s finally resolved. The Skype spinout from eBay will involve Skype’s founders as investors and board members while contributing a cash investment. Skype finally owns the core intellectual property required for Skype to operate at its current cost levels. eBay gets the cash they were looking for but 5% less of the new Skype. [...]

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