Tuesday, August 31, 2010

What Would Cisco Do With Skype? - Deal Journal - WSJ

More Cisco/Skype analysis 

Now the question would be, how could Cisco help Skype turn a profit, a task that eluded its previous big-pocketed owner, eBay. In other words, how could Cisco make Skype’s inexpensive services less-inexpensive?

Perhaps the most straight forward way would be to charge for the use of Skype’s video conferencing , but that might be the fastest way to erode Skype’s user base. Skype has begun offering premium Skype video-conference services to mobile devices, such as Apple’s iPad. But the challenge remains converting its massive subscriber base into paying phone users. It’s possible Skype could sell advertising, but the revenue from internet ads is not likely to justify a $5 billion deal.

What Would Cisco Do With Skype? - Deal Journal - WSJ

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