Many of you have probably already read some of the many articles about the latest release of Yahoo messenger which incorporates VoIP.. such as MSN has recently added VoIP and Video Calls to MSN Messenger , and AIM will shortly support VoIP (Not to be confused with the fact that Are You Open To Innovation? ) Nonetheless, neither one of these competitors are stupid. They may make mistakes now and again, but they adapt quickly and have plenty of muscle. They are very familiar with the terrain. They have numerous advantages over Skype. This is quite unlike the entrenched Telcos from which Skype has been acquiring users. In my opinion, Skype's main hope rests around two goals:
- to continue rushing along its current trajectory of acquiring new users in markets where its new competitors are weakest, which will certainly imply that they continue to make as many partnerships as possible.
- to shore up their defenses by further encouraging third parties to leverage the API in as many ways as possible leaving evolution to decide which are the best applications (i.e. make it as easy as possible for these third parties to make money!) Unfortunately, if Skype is pushed to defocus from these types of goals to figure out more ways to make money they will find themselves outflanked by these new competitors in a short period of time. As such, just like Vonage, I would hope that Skype receives a massive new cash infusion and uses it to accelerate the number of distribution channels in those non-US markets where its competitors are weakest while encouraging third parties to leverage its API. I do not think that Skype can "win", but I do believe that Skype could actually dominate several non-US markets. Remember, blog. Good move Skype! Louis Philip is the owner of http://www.summitcircle.com/ where he writes about the world of Skype and maintains the largest Skype resource site on the web. He can be reached by e-mail: louisphilip@summitcircle.com
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