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PUBLIC MARKS from mattbe with tag mobile

January 2007

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . Skyped | PBS

in Skype and $3 billion would probably not be too much to pay. But I think the most likely purchaser of Skype would be a mobile telephone company. Since Skype service requires broadband, and broadband so far is inherently fixed, Skype threatens only incumbent FIXED phone service, not mobile service. Skype causes headaches for Verizon, but not for Verizon Wireless. So Skype would appeal most to mobile phone carriers who have no fixed telephone assets. That means no offers from SBC, BellSouth, Sprint, or Verizon, just to speak of U.S. carriers, but Skype might be supremely attractive to a Vodaphone or an NTT DoCoMo, both of which have the ability to finance such a deal effortlessly. Expect Skype to be sold, another viral marketing success sucked up by big business. Expect it to go to either a major broadband provider or, more likely, to a big mobile carrier with no fixed telephone assets. And whoever buys Skype, expect them to throw money into making the company into even more of a multinational telecom headache than it currently is. Of course, the rest of the VoIP industry loves this. If Skype is worth $3 billion, then so is Vonage and maybe Packet8. This purchase

April 2006

mattbe's TAGS related to tag mobile

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