 Ebay and the Skype hype
Tuesday, 20 September 2005
Ebay has just recently committed to coughing up $4.1 billion (US) for Skype, that wonderful example of VOIP technology, which is really, really cheap and works pretty well, most of the time, for most users.
But what the hell could Ebay actually use Skype for?
Allegedly, for the following reasons:
- To streamline and improve communications between buyers and sellers.
- To create an unparalleled e-commerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers around the world.
- To accelerate the velocity of trade on Ebay and accelerate the volume of payments through Paypal, while at the same time opening up new lines of business.
- To finalise the many details to before the transaction is completed.
Huh?
Have the Ebay executives had a few too many chardonnays? Presumably they’ve sobered up now, but what makes them think that buyers actually want to talk to sellers anyway? Just how is the current email protocol falling short? What are we supposed to be able to do with VOIP that we can’t do with email in an online auction joint?
I’m not sure about you, but I can already smell the stench from that seemingly bottomless creative pit that is marketing.
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