In the news

For a young 26-year-old London-based copywriter, today was the start of a 33-day round-the-world exercise. An exercise to remain in perpetual motion, to soak up experiences in 15 countries, from hot-air-ballooning in the Austrian Alps to dog-sledding in Alaska, and to see if Skype can help her stay in touch. While supporting a charity in the process.

To find out more about what this — and the person behind the Skype Nomad pseudonym — is about, take a look at her blog, as well as the post by our U.S. blogger who talked to the Nomad as she was preparing to embark on her trek.

The Estonian island of Ruhnu hardly registers on most people’s radar, unless they’re passionate Estophiles. But this little speck of land with just 100 inhabitants leaves many larger communities in the dust when it comes to putting new technology to good use.

Because of its small size, Ruhnu found itself at the forefront of Estonia’s transition to digital broadcasting. And now, local-government officials have started using Skype — webcams and all — in their internal communication as well as to stay in touch with regular folks.

According to a regional newspaper, Ruhnu’s officials are scattered across Estonia and being able to see each other is a nice perk that isn’t included with their office phones or mobiles. Remind me to ping these guys when webcam-boastin’ and Skype-runnin’ Intel-based MIDs reach these shores. Wouldn’t that be a nifty upgrade from government-issue PCs!?

Those of us at Skype and the broader internet communications industry are mourning the loss of a very strong voice in our community today. Word reached us this weekend that Russell Shaw, a blogger over at ZDNet’s IP Telephony blog who has been a follower of Skype since our beginning, passed away.

At the young age of 60, Russell left us while he was doing what he enjoyed most, covering the industry in San Jose, CA for eComm2008 and VON.x.

Continue reading "Farewell, Russell Shaw" »

The Hollywood Reporter has done a nice story on how quick-thinking CNN tech staff in the US helped the network out of an equipment crunch by using Skype to carry a video interview.

This isn’t the first time a major network has done so, as the article also points out. But it could help open the rusty floodgates. We’re all used to seeing journalists in khaki-colored vests filing reports from the world’s distant hotspots over the videophone, and strangely, the choppy quality of these reports does add a layer of raw believability to what is being transmitted. (Similarly, AM broadcasts to me feel more “radio-like” than the squeaky clean FM signals or the kills-bugs-dead sterility of satellite radio)

Continue reading "Skype "a good thing" for CNN" »

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.

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.

As you may have heard, on March 31, Meg Whitman will step down as President and CEO of eBay, Skype’s parent company. She will be succeeded by John Donahoe, who has been President of eBay Marketplaces.

For more on management changes at eBay, please see the eBay press release.

At Skype our main focus is providing our users with the best communications experience possible when using Skype. The first results of the survey start showing that 40% of the people within the Skype ecosystem are interested in/are currently working with Skype on the implementation of concepts and ideas that add value to the Skype Users.

I do know that part of the Skype partners are Developers or work in Software companies, so that is why we would like you to tell us what you would like to see in 2007.

Our developer community and the businesses responsible for creating ideas have helped Skype work towards continued innovation and delivering this promise to our users.

To develop further services for the Developers, Software partners and Business Development communities, Skype would like to understand a bit more about you and how we can best help to facilitate your requests with both our technical teams and business development teams moving forward.

Please take some time to answer our survey. Fill out it!

Your feedback and input are welcomed. Antoine at Skype

Interbrand recently surveyed 2,500 voters in 99 countries and asked them which brand had the most impact on their lives in 2005. Skype came third behind Google and Apple. The full article is available here here

Continue reading "Skype voted number 3 global brand" »