February 2008

Esra’a Al Shafei from Mideast Youth, a network of students, bloggers and activists aimed at eliminating extremist ideologies and ignorance from the Middle East, is showing us how Skype can be used to overcome barriers through the simple act of conversation.

In a post on the Mideast Youth website, Esra’a, a 21-year-old student from Bahrain, talks about a Skype conference call between members of her network and American high-school students in Pennsylvania.

While this link-up may be modest in scale, it is a laudable effort that contributes to the rather noble aims Mideast Youth has set for itself: democratic coexistence and the elimination of extremist ideologies and ignorance from the Middle East. “Arabs, Iranians, Kurds, and Israelis post side-by-side to prove the fact that moderation, interfaith understanding, and sanity does exist in the region,” the group explains on its website.

It’s satisfying to see young people use the Web, and Skype, to strive toward understanding across barriers not of their own making. This particular initiative won’t bring about change on its own, but even a marathon consists of lots of little steps.

Thanks to a lot of generous Skype users who voted for us in the Communications category of CNET’s Webware 100 awards last year, the results gave us reason to smile.

Since then, a lot has happened. Japan, for example, has launched Kizuna, an experimental satellite that will bring low-cost 1.2gbps downloads (and spiffy uploads) to Japan and parts of South-East Asia. Not bad.

But Skype hasn’t sat still either, launching High Quality Video, the 3 Skypephone, squeezing itself into the new Sony Mylo, the Sony PSP Slim & Lite, and is finding other cool ways to land in people’s pockets. And yesterday, we announced the latest feature: a brand new CEO who will join us on March 24.

What I mean to say is this: if you think we’ve still got the mojo after 4.5 years and 100bn Skype-to-Skype minutes, you can now vote for us for Webware 100 in 2008.

Thanks!

Hi, I’m Josh. The new guy. On March 24, I’ll step aboard as CEO to lead the next stage of Skype’s exciting journey.

To say that I’m looking forward to leading this company is an understatement. Skype is one of the defining internet technologies of our era. It’s helping people all over the planet connect with each other like never before. It’s changing the world. You don’t look forward to something like that. You drop what you’re doing and jump aboard.

I’m well aware that it is more than just an ingenious feat of engineering, which has made Skype one of the most rapidly-adopted technologies in human history. It’s a passionate community of users who believe in the power of human connection, in bold innovation and in striving for product excellence which has put us on our path to changing the world. I share your passion, and take very seriously the responsibility of all of us at Skype to be good stewards of the product and the brand.

So what can you expect from me? That I’m serious about wanting to build the greatest products — and the greatest company — on Earth. That doing so means listening well, being willing to think different and take risks. And in everything we do, one thing is certain: we’ll always have the best interests of the Skype community at heart.

I’m the new guy, and have a lot to learn. To really understand Skype’s cultural and technological DNA, my number one priority is to do a lot of listening and learning. With my wife and kids about to begin their adventure in Estonia as well, I have all the support I could ever need. I want to know everything about the technology, the team and the community. And I hope to share some of my observations on this very blog and see what you think, too.

As chief executive, I’m stepping into a flight deck first captained by co-founder Niklas Zennström and latterly interim CEO Michael van Swaaij. Both of whom have done great, meaningful things with this company. I don’t yet have the right to expect your enthusiastic two thumbs up. But as we go further on this journey together, I plan to earn it.

In the meantime, I look forward to meeting and talking with as many of you as possible over the months and years to come.

This post has been a few days coming and the news has already been reported elsewhere. But in keeping with tradition, here’s to confirm that just six weeks after we broke the 11m concurrent-user barrier, we’ve now passed the 12m mark.

I’ll refrain from sharing fun low-calorie factoids about the meaning of 12 million this time. Can’t use that trick too often — it to needs feel fresh the next time around.

In the absence of a thirsty cat, a glass of milk quickly goes sour when left on the kitchen table. Thankfully, awards have a longer shelf life and I hope you’ll excuse my travel-driven tardiness in tipping the old blogger’s sombrero to the Global Mobile Awards panel at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Earlier this week, the 3 Skypephone was highly commended for its innovative approach in the Best Mobile Handset or Device category.

As the judges — industry experts, analysts, journalists and academics — put it, “The Skypephone is an innovative partnership between Hutchison 3 and Skype. In addition to the headline Skype service, the phone offers extremely good value for money with a wide range of features not previously seen at this price point.”

Since the 3 Skypephone was announced in late October, it’s been enjoying an excellent ride in the hands of Skype-loving consumers and it sure feels nice to see the industry recognize the innovation that this handset embodies.

Incidentally, the 3 Skypephone was also one of the main attractions among journalists, bloggers and other visitors to the Skype stand at last Sunday’s Showstoppers. Even as you see more and more Skype-enabled mobile and wireless handsets pop up over time, the 3 Skypephone will continue to play a special role in showing people what’s possible — and what to expect.

Apparently, 100 billion humans have walked on this planet through the ages. But don’t quote me on that. (Although I’m sure these guys will know.)

Apparently, the human brain has about 100 billion neurons. But don’t quote me on that. (Although I’m sure if you leaf through The Scientific American Book of the Brain, you’ll find out for certain.)

Apparently, Dr. Evil decided to hold the world ransom for 100 billion dollars. Though he later lost his wits and upgraded his demand to one billion, gagillion, fafillion, shabolubalu million illion yillion… yen. Still, don’t quote me on that. (Instead, get these guys to back it up.)

And now, Skype has served 100 billion minutes worth of Skype-to-Skype calls. Please, do quote me on that.

This figure is so mind-numbingly large that it’s nigh impossible to wrap my head around it. (Even if attempted, the exercise would likely result in a headache of cosmic proportions that no amount of pickle juice can possibly cure.)

But consider this:

• Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls are free
• Skype’s been around for about 4.5 years
• As of the end of 2007, Skype had 276m registered users, adding 30 million in Q4 alone

When mixed together, this cocktail gets explosive. And it becomes obvious that at 100bn minutes, Skype conversations are really getting out of hand. In a good way.

Thanks for getting us where we are, folks. And keep talking. Next stop: one billion, gagillion, fafillion, shabolubalu million illion yillion Skype-to-Skype minutes.