Over the past six years of covering Skype, there have been three “Masters” – the original founders – Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (2003 to 2005), eBay (2005 to 2009) and the Silver Lake consortium (2009 to MS acquisition). And, once regulatory approvals and due diligence are completed, Microsoft will become the fourth later this [...]
Tag Archives | product management
Microsoft Acquires Skype – An Investor’s Perspective
Following up on Tuesday’s announcement, where many questioned the valuation placed on Skype by Microsoft, Ben Horowitz of Andreeson Horowitz, one of Skype’s investors in the “Silver Lake round” a year ago November, provides some interesting insight into what Andreeson Horotwitz had seen when they made that initial investment 18 months ago. And these insights [...]
Microsoft Acquires Skype – A Most Interesting Marriage
With today’s announcement of Microsoft’s intention to acquire Skype, subject to regulatory approvals, Skype has received the endorsement required to be considered a long term, viable and stable service addressing both consumer and enterprise markets. From the press conference and press release: Skype will continue as a brand and an independent business unit within Microsoft. [...]
Who Comprises the “Team” for a Startup?
I first met iotum CEO Alec Saunders as a competitor in the Canadian PC software market back in 1994. I was Canadian Country Manager for Quarterdeck whose QEMM-386 memory manager had been the tops-selling utility for DOS-based PC’s; Alec was Microsoft’s Canada’s Product Manager for DOS where they were introducing some memory management techniques into [...]
Skype Voicemail to Text via SpinVox: Tell Me Why?
Sometimes communications services come along that demonstrate technical feasibility but then you have to ask “Why?”, “Who would use it?”, “What are the real user benefits?” Such a service is the voice-to-text SMS-based service announced by Skype and partner SpinVox last week. Basically a Skype user can set up their account such that Skype voicemails [...]
SILK: Skype’s New Audio Codec Sets New Performance Standards for Voice Conversations
The most recent hotfix release of Skype for Windows 4 Beta 3 had one key new feature: feature: Super Wideband audio codec The associated Skype Garage post went on to say: … Starting from this version we’ve included the new Super Wideband Audio codec. This is our second in-house built audio codec especially designed for [...]
The Skype Restructuring: Global Products, Regional Markets
Josh Silverman joined Skype as President early in the spring of 2008; since then he has been reviewing Skype’s opportunities and building a team of experienced executives who can bring to Skype the products, programs and team building expertise required to operate a business with a run rate of $600MM per year, 20% contribution margins [...]
Skype Journal Interviews Josh Silverman: The Way Ahead – Managing the Skype Team Culture
This is the third in a series of posts resulting from an interview last Friday with Josh Silverman, Skype’s recently appointed President. In this post we talk about Skype’s value set, getting the business side right while benefiting from the experience and skills of the current employees and the role of product marketing. In the [...]
Mike Bartlett Discusses Skype 4.0 Beta on Squawk Box
We reported earlier that Mike Bartlett, Skype for Windows Product Manager, would be the guest on Friday’s Squawk Box. With 15 fifteen participants, Mike answered questions ranging from features of the new Skype for Windows 4.0 Beta; plans and objectives for the beta program, the challenges of trying to launch concurrent (Windows, Mac, Linux) versions, [...]
Skype 4.0 for Windows Beta 1 — Call for User Feedback
Caution: Skype 4.0 for Wiindows Beta 1 is about improving the User Interface but it is not a replacement for your ongoing Skype conversations on your primary PC and should only be used on a secondary PC to provide user feedback. While over the years, over 300 million have figured out how to download and [...]
- The Jim Courtney Daily is out! http://t.co/1sz4ht5R ▸ Top stories today via @jasonnazar @ccummins @itexpo
- Voice On The Web: @Skype 5.8 for Windows Released http://t.co/CV54pQO7 HD Video, Group Video Screen Share
- Skype 5.8 for Windows Released... http://t.co/CV54pQO7
- The Jim Courtney Daily is out! http://t.co/1sz4ht5R ▸ Top stories today via @wpfreelance
- “@asaunders: Seth's blog: Rightsizing your passion http://t.co/HZQZB0Jc”
- Voice On The Web: @Skype senses Halitosis? Hold your breath! http://t.co/rx1tIbqN thanks, @ambermac
