Thought for the day: what if Skype innovated in their charging mechanism for new services, such as video? What if a video call required at least one of the participants to have a positive SkypeOut balance?
This would be a case of “free (except when it isn’t)”. It reflects the zero marginal cost of service, but also reflects the non-zero cost of creating the software. But it also makes the spread of the software easier. You don’t need two people to commit to purchasing the software speculatively, in the hope that friends will also get the same software.
Syype makes its money from an increasingly large free float of cash, as well as breakage from SkypeOut balances expiring. If they’ve got an ounce of business sense, they’ll share some of the gains with the plugin providers.
For loyal Skypers who take the paid services, that serves to keep them happy. For others, it might just tip the balance into signing up for paid service. After all, it’s free, isn’t it ;)
Now, webcam video has plenty of “free” competition from other IM clients. But if your solution genuinely advances the state of the art (e.g. video conference calling, better compression, etc.), you want to see an economic return. You can still give away a basic service for no charge.
PS — How long is it until your SkypeOut credit simply becomes your Skype credit?
UPDATE: Don’t forget that billing innovation has an illustrious history of success, e.g. AT&T Digital One Rate, MCI Friends & Family.
Posted by Martin Geddes at 10:57 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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