Hey... no month goes by without praising the Scandinavian lords of VoIP. I now use Skype daily to call business partners around Europe. They're all on Skype (talk about the power of viral marketing).
Today something weird happened: I had to call someone that didn't have Skype installed, but used a plain old phone ! So 20th century. So I decided to give it a try: SkypeOut !!!
Registration was super easy, I bought a pre-paid bundle of 10€ (please note that Skype does not have a refund policy). Add to that the 15% VAT for Luxemburg (why on earth is Skype billing from Lux ;) ?), and there I was a few moments later, after paying by CC, with an account to play with. So, easy, I started calling up a few folks, both on fixed and mobile. They all tell me they hear a very strong noise, although I hear them crystal clear. Something wrong somewhere there, hopefully it will be solved shortly so that we can all start using Skype in a professional environment, for it is so helpful. Funnily, communications to mobile phones (which generate about 10x revenues) have much much less noise than communications to fixed lines... I wonder why. Is it the difference in infrastructure ?
On another note, I noticed Skype launched a couple of weeks ago, something with Siemens: embedded Skype with DECT phones. It won't be too long before it shows up in Wi-Fi devides as well (already available for PocketPC PDAs and smartphones right?). They are also promoting USB logitech headsets. Too bad I bought mine before the promotion ;;)
Another great news is that Skype has finally published an API to extend the system:
Skype Developer Zone helps you integrate Skype functions in your hardware, software or services. You can download documentation and example code that helps you get going quickly. We’ve also assembled a number of ideas about how you could expand Skype.
Among their ideas for expanding Skype are:
- Personal Information Managers
- Online gaming
- Providing on-demand content
- Call-center and IVR solutions
- Phone handsets
I'd like to throw into that:
- a non greographical number for people to call me from POTS
- a voice mail service
- an extension to add SkypeIM to either gaim or Trillian, so that I can have everything in one place
- better import mechanisms for contact lists (the current version can't find my contacts from PalmDesktop); a tool to update them thru CSV would be fine
Skype is basically becoming a telco with a bunch of services:
- telephony, conference calling and IM today.
- file sharing, videoconferenceing, unified messaging, fax tomorrow, with the little twist of being able to plug voice easily into any application (see the API above for games), a leap forward from any major telco today on VoiP.
By the way, call rates on SkypeOut (add 15% to the price list) are even cheaper than the rates for VoIP of the cheapest of French ISPs, Free...
