Topic: 4) A Random Walk
One of my past colleagues at the management consulting firm PRTM pointed out to me a cool technology by Skype. It is a P2P telephony company enabling free, superior-quality calling worldwide. I'm generally not an early-adopter when it comes to actually using technologies (although I know some of the S4 Management Group blog readers are), but what really caught my attention was the roots back to KaZaA and the quote by the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
"I knew it was over when I downloaded Skype," Michael Powell, chairman, Federal Communications Commission, explained. "When the inventors of KaZaA are distributing for free a little program that you can use to talk to anybody else, and the quality is fantastic, and it's free - it's over. The world will change now inevitably."
Fortune Magazine, February 16, 2004
About Skype
Don't know what the conversion rate to users is on the 26-some million downloads. Last I remembered stats on the instant messaging space ... well, it wouldn't surprise me if Skype had a total user base on the order of the pure-play, instant messaging platforms even lacking first-mover positioning and even given some of the tricks of getting the end-user, customer premise equipment in place.
Steve Shu
Managing Director
S4 Management Group
Email: sshu@s4management.com
Web: http://www.s4management.com
Posted by sshu-s4 (c) S4 Management Group LLC
at 10:55 AM CDT
Updated: October 7, 2004 7:14 PM CDT
