* Skype reported 124 million connected users and who placed 95 billion calling minutes over Skype in the first half of 2010
Skype has filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of ordinary shares. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined.
Skype has filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of ordinary shares. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined.
Skype is a software-based communications platform used by consumers and businesses for voice, video and text conversations and collaboration. Originally founded in 2003, Skype’s “mission is to be the communications platform of choice around the world” according to the company. Based on company-supplied statistics, the Skype has done remarkably well in seven years — it reported 124 million connected users and who placed 95 billion calling minutes over Skype in the first half of 2010; approximately 40% of these conversations used Skype’s video services. Skype’s free software is used by computers, mobile phones and other connected devices.
Skype vs. Google Talk
Our observation: we’re delighted to see Skype move forward with an IPO — especially in tough economic time because the offer is a testament to Skype’s value as a communication tool.
In other recent news, Google has announced through a blog site that it is dropping plans for further development on “Google Wave”, a Web application designed for real-time communication and collaboration According to the company’s blog post, “Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began.”
Our observation: Google is frequently about innovation, and the company has branched out into some pretty interesting pursuits including home grown technologies and via acquisitions like Google Voice. And part of innovation is knowing when not to proceed so while some developers will likely be upset with Google’s decision, we understand it is a part of the “natural selection” process of technology evolution.
