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The Hype of Skype
VoIP market could go way of dot.com bubble with overinflated
valuations
One of the world’s leading authorities on the
Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and CEO of one of the
UK’s leading telecoms equipment manufacturers – DeTeWe
– has warned today that the eBay has ‘lost its
marbles’ by acquiring internet voice service Skype for
$2.6bn. Shocair has warned previously that services such as Skype,
which do not enable consumers to use traditional handsets are
doomed to remain the fascination and preserve of the technology
community and ‘curious users’ who had downloaded the
software, rather than bringing VoIP into the mainstream.
Shocair warns:
“For eBay to bid $2.6bn for Skype is just insane – eBay
could have used any chat programme to deliver exactly the same
service to customers. Sure, there may be some incremental value to
current eBay customers, but eBay is not going to become the next
big VoIP player. To be really successful in VoIP terms, you need to
be about more than just the technology or "disrupting" the old
phone system. To really make commercial inroads, it’s got to
be just as simple to use as the existing options – or
hopefully, simpler. In addition, the service has got to be priced
right so as to ensure that consumers feel compelled to make the
switch.”
“I think you’d also have to ask the question as to
whether this deal really represents good value for eBay
shareholders. To those of us who’ve been in the telecoms
market for 20 or 30 years, this smacks of the dot.com days, and the
vastly over-inflated valuations for acquisition targets that were a
feature of those times.”
“Successful widespread adoption of VoIP is going to happen
when someone enters the market with a ‘plug and play’
solution, using the existing lines and handsets that Joe Public
already has in their house. Until that time, this technology will
continue to be more about the hype than a practical way of
leveraging the Net to make calls.”
09/2005, Mark Houlding
Mark Houlding is Director of Rostrum Communications
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