DISQUS

Matt Hardwick · 8 months ago

Yes. I would. It went down hill when eBay got it... I struggled to cope when they added Video Calling, now there are all these rubbishy little apps and so much rubbish that comes with it out of the box, these so called "Extras".

mashable · 8 months ago

Agree. The PC version in particular has a bunch of junk in it. If they sell again, Google may be a better home for it.

Eyebee · 8 months ago

I'd like to see the service stay up and running, but don't care who owns it.. I use Skype for both personal and business calls, and make use of Skye-to-go, and unlimited World. There is no other VOIP option out there that gives me what I want for the price I get it at.

Jitendra, · 8 months ago

Yes, sure, I would, because, it may improve the accessibility of skype products to screen-reader, as I am myself a blind person. and I hate those called extras.

david amodt · 8 months ago

This would be a great move. Ebay hasn't done anything with Skype and its integration into ebay has been poor to be the least. Leave it to the founders and they'll turn it profitable in a year.

TechFuse · 8 months ago

Wouldn't it be better if the founders got it back, I mean, they'd have a good idea, imo, with what people want on the app.

Ben Parr · 8 months ago

I personally like the idea of the entrepreneurial founders being in contorl of the company. Think about Microsoft and Google and how iits founders being at the helm have really led them to good things. Just two...small examples.

richie · 8 months ago

what i would like to know can you use skype on any phone let me know thank you Mashable

Kampanye Pemilu Indonesia · 8 months ago

Finally, got what I was looking for!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it.

Patrick Curl · 8 months ago

First off I love skype and use it as my primary phone. Secondly, I don't like ebay. Thirdly, I'd like to see Skype survive at whatever it takes - I'm sure the original owners and developers would be much better at running it, but as long as it remains up - I'm good to go.

Jason Barone · 8 months ago

Something has to change with Skype, the software is a little bloated for my tastes and it doesn't integrate well at all with Pidgin. Out of the all the services I use, Skype is the only one where excessive spam shows up. I get random messages every day from spammers on Skype. It goes hand-in-hand with all the ebay spam emails I get too.

I love Skype, but I'd definitely like to see it change hands. Or better yet, I'd love to see everyone move onto another platform.

mled · 8 months ago

I believe the best implementations of Skype have been on mobile phones. In this environment, ebay have not managed to squeeze a billion and one games and bolt-on apps - instead we get the core product. You can access your contacts, call them or text chat with them, and dial other numbers. Perfect. There's value added on handsets like INQ1 where Skype contacts are merged with other details you may have on an individual, forming a single and complete address book entry.

There are two parties being discussed here: ebay and Skype (I love how we already talk about them separately). Spinning Skype off as its own entity has far greater impact on ebay than Skype. Comments here reflect how strong the Skype brand is. What about ebay? Trust in them has fallen and new auction sites are gathering up lost market share fast. I'd like to know what capital raised from this would be used for at ebay.

Ammar · 8 months ago

Skype is better off without eBay. That's for sure because I'm not happy with the speed of development since eBay acquired it! Things must have gone much faster. Specially the mobile editions.

But I'm not sure how the founders will make Skype better. It might even get worse with them at the beginning. Looking at their recent track-record, Joost is not really my idea of a successful app. If the founders get Skype back, I hope they don't miss with it as they did with Joost.

Gijs Bos · 8 months ago

The main issue with Skype is that they haven't been able to cut deals with telco's (Skype on iPhone is a great example). So they need a company who can do that for them.

Apple: would be an amazing deal to integrate Skype into the appstore as the default (and only) sanctioned VOIP application. However, it would be a big stretch from where Apple and Skype are right now and it's a lot of money for Apple.

Google: never got any traction on Google talk, and Skype's users would be a great way of gaining it. In addition, Google would love to have Skype for Android lead over the iPhone version. However, Google doesn't seem to like multi billion dollar takeovers (despite all the cash). Morveover, Google has little cloud with the Telco's, so it doesn't solve Skype's problem.

Microsoft: somehow this looks like a Microsoft deal. It's big, unprofitable, but has nice ring to it. It would be a boost for MS on mobile devices. Seems like the most logical deal to me.

valto · 8 months ago

Nice quick analytics of suitable buyer for Skype. I would hate if Microsoft would buy it. I would really like for Skype to go back to its founders for a while and then sell to Google with more clear sale than what it was for ebay (ie. tech license issue etc.)

Alejandro Dominguez · 8 months ago

yes, they are smart and love the web, they have great desings ideas (by the way ebay is the worst desing i eve seeing).

Harry · 8 months ago

Agree, "Skype hasn't offered anything more in the last few years but the telecoms market is quickly changing and Skype needs to be dynamic" - and Zennstrom and Friis will make the changes that are required for Skyoe to become a "real" telco: better integration, standards compliance, and SUPPORT!!!

..H..

Mohamed Amine · 8 months ago

Is there any info if "Skypecasts" will be launched again? I have stopped using Skype after they have shut it down.

Jukka-Pekka Keisala · 8 months ago

I have been waiting Google to buy it. I think Skype belongs to Google it would be only company that I can think of who would put Skype forward. Though, Google will never pay billions for it. Quite frankly Skype has never been worth of billions.
Microsoft would be also good byer, it would boost their Windows Mobile platform to new levels as Microsoft is only company who dares to challenge telecoms and put it by default on the OS.

Matsonian · 8 months ago

Agree with most here, the innovations of the original owners have been somewhat lost under eBay rule. One could only imagine what they can do if they're back at the helm.

Wando and Lubby · 8 months ago

I don't see why not. Noone does it better than the founders seems to be the case. Just look at Bebo.

James Nash · 8 months ago

I'll be intrigued as to the final valuation and currently use skype consistently for international business. I'm open to inquire from individuals interested in deals/activity in this and other sectors.

Best,

James Nash
Managing Director
Stamford Capital LLC
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Steve Jennings · 8 months ago

Niklas and Janus are two of the smartest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet (kazaa days in Amsterdam). Both of them are visionaries. Reacquiring Skype would be a master stroke. A merge/acquisition between Skype and Twitter is the deal waiting to happen!

Laurence · 8 months ago

Hope they get Skype back. eBay's handling of Skype's customer service has gone to crap. Plus, they can't even recognize my PayPal (!) payment... now they have my money and I want a refund!

Laura Zalesak · 8 months ago

Give it back to the people who will do something with skype and move it forward... give it back to the people who had the origional dream and goals for what skype would become.

scottshapiro · 8 months ago

this almost reminds me of the fire-sale buyback of California Pizza Kitchen from Pepsi by the original owners

Jon · 8 months ago

They should put Skype up as an ebay listing... buy it now for 3 billion.

BentSlightly · 8 months ago

Yes. Then I would like an IMMEDIATE update to the Linux Version of Skype.

BentSlightly · 8 months ago

Yes. Then I would like an IMMEDIATE update to the Linux Version of Skype.

David Matt · 7 months ago

There’s been a bit of a debate on some blogs about the merit of blocking Skype on corporate networks. One blogger argued that the decision to block Skype at his company was a very easy one, in part because it offered little benefit to the company.

homepage · 7 months ago

Ebay, why buy it in the first place for an un-godly amount of money when it has nothing to do with auctions or online shopping. Try the best homepage

NIP · 7 months ago

of course......i would love see skype getting sold back to it's original founders..........ever since ebay got it, they made it worse......bad shape desktop version is a pain now and stupid new apps coming out.which is totally useless, making the app more buggish.......

Tim Panton · 7 months ago

Skype have been making all the right moves to be able to ditch the licensed P2P technology
and move to SIP if they have to.

They have switched to using SIP at the edges, they have hired a guy from the _leading_ SIP softphone company. The internal payload format is now RTP (SIP compatible). They are partnering with Digium to provide business gateways and functionality. They are opening the codecs to other vendors.

Now I'm not saying it will be smart or easy to switch, but they are heading plausibly down the road.
It's no more extreme a step than Apple made from MacOs classic to OSX.

gern · 7 months ago

what's skype?

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