eBay/Skype: Giving the calls away for free

摘要

Let's think inside the box for a change, understanding that communications is the Ultimate Reality-Distortion Universe, where assets are really liabilities, customers have loyalty so low that it can be measured in picoseconds, and every vendor yearns for yesteryear when there were real profits. In this universe, the power winner is eBay/Skype. ("Howard, you are nuts as a bunny EBay/Skype isn't a carrier or even a technology equipment company it's a middleman.") Let's think this through. EBay paid $4 billion for a company with sales of $60 million that essentially gives its product away Communications cost is now effectively zero. Consumers have figured out that if you are just technically conversant enough, you shouldn't have to ever pay for communications again. Those are the early adopters of VoIP; eBay is betting that the whole system goes mainstream by 2007 and that all those eBay buyers/sellers will be using eBay/Skype.