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| Skype to Continue Sole Focus on Voice |
| Xu Zhiqiang asks Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström about the recent eBay deal |
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Xu Zhiqiang (xuzhiqiang)  |
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Published 2005-10-10 10:36 (KST) |
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The following is an email interview of Skype's Niklas Zennström by citizen reporter Xu Zhiqiang. The Chinese version was first published in the 21st Century Business Herald, Sept. 19 -- Ed.
Five years ago, you and Janus Friis founded KaZaa and then sold it to Sharman Networks. In 2003 you and Janus Friis founded Skype and then sold it to eBay. Being as an entrepreneur, is this your strategy and style to operate companies?
My strategy and style has always been to create successful businesses for the long term that delight the user. With eBay, we had the luxury to choose to work with top companies to accelerate the growth of Skype and make us the voice of the Internet.
We recognized the need for additional resources and support to fully realize this vision. We think eBay is a perfect fit both philosophically and commercial for us, and together we can do great things.
From KaZaA to Joltid to Altnet and now to Skype, all of these technologies belong to the P2P (peer-to-peer) category. Could you summarize your evolving views and thoughts on the P2P tech along with their development?
In its purest form, innovation applies technology to solve real problems. Disruptive technologies such as P2P provide consumers with ways to enhance their lives, increase their productivity and enable operations to run more efficiently and cost-effectively. It creates true change by providing new definitions and value.
Disruption is about creating an entirely new technology that allows people to do or experience something for the first time. That 'something' Skype provides is very valuable -- allowing people to make contact, share information, be more social and more productive.
I believe in the open web, and that affordable access to broadband and the power of P2P technology is fundamental to free and transparent communications.
It took only two years for Skype to grab more than 45 million users all over the world since it was founded in 2003. What is the key to its popularity?
Skype's free software makes it possible for anyone with an Internet connection to make free, high quality voice calls over the Internet.
This is a major leap forward that is changing the telecommunications world, and a big advance for personal communications. We develop cool, straightforward features so callers can communicate in more ways, more affordably and with better sound quality than ever before.
We are pushing beyond the limited features of mobiles and landlines, and our software simple for anyone to use. Skype adds new speed and cost and quality gains as a complement to traditional phones.
Will Skype still concentrate in the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) industry after the Skype-eBay deal was finished?
With this deal, we get to remain a completely stand alone business able to execute on our vision to become the world's largest communications business, along with the benefit of support to realize our vision. By remaining independent, Skype will be able to continue our sole focus on voice communications.
We will all work together to take advantage of the synergies we see in this deal, and our management team will stay on to continue to build Skype.
If Skype is integrated into eBay's C2C (consumer-to-consumer) auction and PayPal business, what is role will it play in the eBay? Could it still provide high quality service or just become one tool of the e-Commerce?
Skype's revolutionary software and network, spectacular growth, global footprint and vibrant ecosystem will all contribute to the continued success of eBay. By continuing to focus on our core strength, together with eBay and PayPal we can create an unparalleled e-commerce engine for buyers and sellers around the world.
Skype can accelerate the velocity of trade on eBay and PayPal, while opening up new lines of business and creating significant new monetization opportunities for the company. In turn, eBay and PayPal can accelerate the growth of Skype and make it the voice of the Internet.
In parts of China, the telecom magnate banned the Skype-Out service. How does Skype handle different telecom policies around the world?
We're investigating the issue and addressing the situation via our joint venture with TomOnline in China. The Tom-Skype joint venture does not enable calling to PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)s, and Skype is not offering PSTN services in China at this time. We do not believe our Tom-Skype co-branded portal has been blocked.
We are working with the ministry and with the major telcos in China to create a win-win partnership that will ultimately meet the needs of consumers.
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©2005 OhmyNews
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