Skype’s death knell?
p2p news / p2pnet: "It’s small, it’s boring and won’t turn any heads – but it probably spells the end of the road for Skype, Vonage and any other hopeful independent VoIP companies."
So what is it?
Nokia’s 6136 phone, "which allows you to make calls over your home or office Wi-Fi network, as well as on a regular cellular network," says The Register. "UMA, or unlicensed mobile access, is the mobile operators’ answer to the threat of VoIP – and now it’s reality. Many of Nokia’s mid-range and high-end phones will feature Wi-Fi, and UMA allows the user to keep one phone number, one handset, and receive one bill at the end of every month."
In three years, Ken Kolderup of Kineto Wireless, which saw the technology through the standards process, is quoted as saying, "mobile minutes at home will be free".
With this in mind, what would Kolderup advise Skype and Vonage to do next?
"If you’d asked me a year ago I’d have advised Vonage to go public – which they have – and Skype to get bought – which they have too," The Register has him saying.
Couldn’t VoIP firms simply build their own networks?
"The cost is phenomenal," says Kolderup. "And in any developed market I can’t see it. It means acquiring the sites, building the towers, and providing the backhaul. In developing markets perhaps."
"The VoIP guys tend to be 10 guys in a garage. Owning and managing and operating an outdoor network is a different deal. It’s hard and very expensive."
VoIP will, "never go mobile without the co-operation of the mobile operators," he adds.
(Thanks, Jazz)
Also See:
The Register – Skype and Vonage: thank you, and goodnight, February 14, 2006
February 16th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
‘VoIP will, “never go mobile without the co-operation of the mobile operators,” he adds.’
yet again the incumbents figured out a way to continue to screw the customer….I’m guessing the cost will be low at first, just long enough to kill off the competition (the new guys who started the inovation) . Then it’ll be bend over time…
February 16th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Skype is already running on Nokia 6680 S60 Handset:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/Skype_running_on_Nokia_66880_S60_Handset.php
February 16th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
Skype deserves to die for one reason, if no other–its complete disinterest in anything even remotely resembling customer service. Maybe the old entrenched players do cost more, but they also deliver at least some level of customer service.
Skype ignores its customers. I have had numerous trouble tickets apparently disappear into some black hole at Skype. Out of at least a dozen requests for support from Skype, only once did they respond–and without follow-up or resolution of the problem. I had to do that for myself.
Competition does indeed create a hostile environment for most businesses, but Skype seems to go out of its way to create a hostile environment with its own *paying* customers. Skype clearly seems worried about recent competitive developments from what I read via links to other stories, but it has also left open a mile-wide hole of customer dissatisfaction by which competitors can [and likely will] easily take advantage.
Skype + Hype – Customer Service = Sk-Yikes!: As a paying Skype customer, that is precisely what I have experienced.
February 16th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
The Mobile and entrenched telephone companies will be the ones to continue making all the money. That will NEVER change unless the the same thing happens to these as what happened to Microsoft. Microsoft thought it had shut out competition such as OS2, Novell and so on.
The same thing is occurring in the information transport business. The incumbent telephone companies will act in the same manner. Each carves out a territory and form “partnerships” with like large companies (roaming agreements, etc). In most places, these phone companies “compete” with each other while gouging customers with surprise fees, etc. The market is fixed and all meaningful competition to this type of price gouged service will be shut out. ISP’s are another area where customers will be priced gouged.
NOBODY can compete with these mammoth, government supported monopolies unless they provide nearly the same type of service under different rules like Linux has done to Microsoft and the entrenched unix companies. The Linux model started out with do-it-yourselfers providing their own operating system and eventually, businessess caught on and started seeing the benefits of supporting Linux. Businesses now have a way of writing and distributing systems without being encumbered by overpriced licenses. The same type of thing will happen when hackers figure out how to build their own infrastructure. This type of infrastructure is already being build in communities around the world. These communities are called FreeWans, Muninets, and so on. If these mobile and landlind operators do not start providing reasonable service for reasonable prices, they might find a group of hackers forcing them to compete with free.
February 18th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
The best way to get their attention is to post on their forum. Their customer service does seem to be very bad but I find the quality of Skype-Out to be very good.
I don’t think this new cell phone will kill Skype.