Skype Journal: How many users does Skype have today?
April 25, 2006 12:03 PM
Jean Mercier, Oostakker, Belgium
New numbers on the home page of the Skype website!
Technorati Tags: skype, rss feeds, rss feed, names, bloggers, excel sheet, cheating, niklas, mercier, screenshot, occasional, ceo, belgium, jean, lost, members
Yes, they inform the “number of users”! But they are cheating! And I really can prove they are cheating ;-)
In the past Niklas Zennström, CEO of Skype, and other members of Skype Staff have mentioned several times the number of users. Several Bloggers or visitors of the Skype Forum were wondering what was behind the definition of “Users”. Did they mean active users, including occasional users? Or registered user names? Or something else? I have never seen an answer.
But Skype provided now an official answer! Indeed, they made the same number available through their RSS feeds! I found this:
This screenshot from the RSS feed into my Excel sheet clearly tells us that the number of “users” is in fact the number of registered Skype names.
And this is quite different, because some Skype names are not used at all for any of the following reasons (non exclusive list):
- lost passwords, and therefore inaccessible username
- tests, and abandoned use of the name
- spare usernames, registered for future use (I have several!)
- the owner of the username died (yes, this also happens! )
- the person switched to another VoIP tool
- the person registered a temporary name for a temporary past situation.
So the title “100 million users” should be changed to “100 million registered usernames.”
Quite a difference ... and the discussion can go on: HOW MANY REAL REGULAR USERS DOES SKYPE HAVE NOW?
Technorati Tags: skype, rss feeds, rss feed, names, bloggers, excel sheet, cheating, niklas, mercier, screenshot, occasional, ceo, belgium, jean, lost, members
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Comments (2)
A very small sample of one. I currently have 534 contacts. 301 have been online this year and 272 in the last month.
If we think of "active users" being online at least once a month, then you can at least cut the number of registered names in half. Given the other possible reasons for non use, it's probably more like 25%. So we have 6m online right now and maybe 25m online in the last 30 days.
I'd love to see some comparison here with similar figures for the major IM programs. Can anyone provide them?
Posted by: julian.bond ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 26, 2006 12:01 AM
Jean, excellent analysis. I agree with you 100%!! May I add a few more "non-user" cases to your list?
a) your account runs out - and you are forced to sign up again - with a new username
b) you want to change your username for some reason - the only way is to sign up for a new account
c) you want to top up your account - but Skype won't let you because of "security reasons". Therefore if you want to go on using Skype - yes, you've got it, you have to open a new account! [Skype support said there is no problem but haven't replied to subsequent emails in case any Skype staff are reading]. Conclusion: Skype must be so rich, they don't need my money...
On the related issue of the number of users and the ability to provide customer service, I would like to add that personalised customer support for free usage of the programme is obviously very expensive, whether it's 100 million or 1 million users.
But when users start paying real money for services i.e. SkypeOut, voicemail there is a need for real customer service to deal with credit card, accounting and billing errors, otherwise clients will lose faith and go somewhere else.
So what's the point of Skype having "100" million so-called users if they can't provide real service? Maybe just figures to try and impress - or keep their shareholders happy?
Posted by: Peter at April 29, 2006 2:48 AM