Welcome to my old blog, which I no longer maintain.

For details of my current professional services and activities see www.martingeddes.com.

September 5, 2005

Do be evil

So, Skype is teaming up with E-Plus to offer a "bundled" mobile data plan.

The obvious question many have asked is how will E-Plus stop you from using rivals to Skype? What does this do technically behing the co-marketing facade? Couldn't I just download and use Skype anyway?

But turn this all inside out for a moment. What if your Skype client only worked on the E-Plus network when roaming in Germany? Or in other words, it simply refused to work on the competition? Sorry, your IP address is drawn from a block we don't support.

Unlikely, you say -- I'd just use something else. But would you? Could you really get all your buddies to switch?

Skype is following a multi-pronged "out-distributute the competition" strategy, bundling with connectivity service and edge devices. Will SkypeNet be reaching the parts that other providers cannot reach?

Posted by Martin Geddes at 3:41 PM
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