Put A Fork In It – Is Skype Done?

For over five years, Skype has flown under the radar with their P2P based messaging system. Because of the distributed nature of P2P, they’ve been able to deploy a minimal amount of infrastructure to support their always-on solution. Unfortunately, we think that Skype/eBay is in for a rude awakening.

As last-mile providers move to a bytes transferred model, we’re guessing that they won’t charge their customers for the bytes transferred for Internet calls if you’re using their VOIP service. This means that the once-free Skype will now start costing users a quantifiable fee.

Additionally, as computer services move away from the desktop and on to the server, users will be forced to purchase a separate piece of hardware to use Skype (the same hardware that other VOIP providers include with their services).

Overall, we don’t think Skype will disappear; we simply think this seemingly pirate business is in for some drastic changes.

Note: We at Deft Labs are not fans of a bytes transferred model for personal/home communication. We think it will stifle the communication revelation we’re experiencing. Oh, outside of a truly awful experience we had when purchasing a phone from Skype, we love the product.