100 million reasons why eBay bought Skype

By Stan Beer
Saturday, 29 April 2006 18:31

Home IT

When online auctioneer eBay bought internet telephony provider Skype in September 2005 for more than $2.5 billion, more than a few eyebrows shot up, even though Skype had a massive database of more than 50 million subscribers. Just over half a year later, however, it has doubled its database to 100 million and just keeps growing.

The thing that makes Skype so attractive to users is the same formula that Google uses. It's simple and it works.

Unlike instant messaging services like MSN Messenger and others, Skype is a peer-to-peer type of service, which enlists the computers of users in a similar manner to music file sharing programs like Kazaa and Napster. Calls can be made from computer to computer for free, there are also cordless Skype phone handsets, as well as a range of cheap paid services that enable Skype users to make and receive calls to both fixed line and mobile phones.

In a statement, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom said: "Passing 100 million registered users within such a short time reinforces how much people love how easy Skype makes it to call friends, family and colleagues all over the world for free."

However, while Skype has proven to be enormously popular with consumers, businesses have become increasingly concerned with the unfettered use by employees at work. Many employers are worried that the file sharing capabilities of Skype present a security risk to their organisations.