Re:Bill Gates says he advocated Skype takeover
by sayemm on Wednesday May 18, 2011 @12:25AM
(#2559050)
Great points. What's more is that they pre-empt and sort of sidestep Google out of a big part of this too. People who criticize the high price paid for Skype should also think about their decision to invest in Facebook at a $15bn valuation early on - another bold move by Gates.
Re:Bill Gates says he advocated Skype takeover
by smiler on Wednesday May 18, 2011 @10:09AM
(#2560177)
Except Skype is not a product that corporate IT wants - as you point out, it is a botnet and they do not want their bandwidth being sucked up for calls.
MS does have access to the market - but it's one increasingly dominated by Cisco and their solutions just work. I do not think Skype will succeed in the enterprise.
Skype has a product that corporate users want - voip/conference calls/video conferencing. MS has access to that market, which Skype did not really have.
Skype has a massive user base(663 million registered users as of 2010). These users also have contact lists - business, friends, and family. Think of these social connections in a user base larger than facebook. MS wants more into social.
Skype has a massive amount of peoples credit cards on file, and agreements with those people.
Skype has a huge botnet(110 million+ active nodes). Many of the computers running Skype process data, and use their internet pipe for Skype. Remember Skype is a P2P network.
The Skype brand is quite strong, and is something people like. MS needs to buy into brands like Skype, which people love - since many people hate the MS brand.
Then there is the raw talent they are buying. These are some seriously good hackers, and business people.
I think MS got Skype for a great price.