The rumors of the Verizon and Skype love affair were true! Starting next month, a handful of compatible smart phones on the Verizon Wireless network will be able to gain access to Skype software that will allow for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls with a Verizon 3G plan. More »

0 Comments

The Mobile World Congress is almost here, and rumors are flying left and right about what’s going down in Barcelona. Verizon has officially announced that it will be holding a joint conference with Skype on Tuesday, but no details have been divulged yet. More »

0 Comments

If I were Google, here would be my ambitious shortlist of improvements that I would make to Google Wave. Although “the Wave” has immense potential and is particularly useful as a brainstorming tool for business, it could possibly displace Facebook and many other social networking sites. However, before anything this dramatic can happen, Google must make the following amendments: More »

2 Comments

Skype, the number one Internet voice caller has hit a whole new level of numbers. Although the company is tied up in a legal battle with its founders, it still found a way to build up its number of users and its quarterly revenue. At the end of the third quarter of 2009, Ebay broke out Skype’s performance numbers, releasing it to the public.

Skype’s already registered users grew drastically, growing 41% to 521 million people, which is an amazing 40 million new users. Skype’s revenues grew 29% to $185 million, beating last quarter’s revenue by a smidge. Skype grew all around this quarter, with Skype to Skype minutes ranging in the billions, 27.7 billion to be exact, roughly a 74% increase. More »

2 Comments

According to the Share Skype Blog, AT&T will start allowing Skype usage over 3G. This comes after months of complaints from iPhone and Skype users. I think that this is a step in the right direction for the the company that has been criticized for blocking Skype and Google Voice on the iPhone.

It could also potentially be a game changer. Voice over IP on the best-selling smartphone will change the way most people use their phones. If I had an iPhone, I would probably downgrade my voice plan in a jiffy.

Now, we just need to wait to see if the recent rumors of Google Voice also being unblocked are true.

0 Comments

The legal battle over Skype is still not over. The founders of Skype are suing eBay for $75 million per day for continuing to use, what they claim, is their copyrighted software. The software in question is the peer-toper technology being used in Skype without their permission. The company that recently bought a portion of Skype from eBay, is also named in the suit. More »

0 Comments

eBay did sell Skype this morning to a private equity firm, Silver Lake Partners. The deal is valued at $2.75 billion. eBay will receive $1.9 billion in cash after the sale is completed in the fourth quarter of 2009. eBay bought Skype for over $3 billion in 2005. Skype is set to make a revenue of $600 million this year. Here’s the full press release: More »

1 Comment

eBay may finally be off the hook from their overpriced acquisition of Skype. According to a NY Times report, eBay is planning an announcement today to sell Skype to a group of private investors. The group purchasing Skype is probably going to be led by former co-founder of Netscape, Marc Andreessen, among others. eBay’s asking price for Skype is set to be around $2 Billion.

Looking back on the eBay/Skype deal, it turned out to be one of the worst tech deals in the new millennium. eBay outbid Google and Yahoo for Skype and ultimately paid over $3 billion for the internet calling service. Although Skype is set to make $600 million in revenue this year, it just hasn’t been the fit eBay was looking for in their e-commerce business. More »

1 Comment

Uh oh, looks like Skype may be in some legal trouble. According to Gizmag, eBay is in a legal limbo with Joltid, the company eBay bought Skype from for $2.6 billion in 2005 and might shut down unless a new software is developed or an agreement is made to keep Skype alive. eBay was planning to use Skype in an independent format to make a profitable return instead of linking it to its auction site. But after a fall out with Joltid over licensing issues and a legal battle, Skype may not exist. More »

4 Comments