Skype Journal: Talk for Britain - Is this the Direction for Free SkypeOut Promotions?
October 26, 2006 06:21 AMLast May Skype announced their first "free" SkypeOut promotion -namely all SkypeOut calls within North America would be free until Dec. 31, 2006. In early September Skype announced a similar program covering France. Basically, if you were not already a Skype user, you simply sign up for Skype, and all your SkypeOut calls within the designated territory are free; however, you pay normal SkypeOut rates for calls outside the designated region. And the promotions expire in just over two months, Dec. 31.
Last week Skype UK announced Talk for Britain, a new promotion that probably gives a hint of what will happen to these earlier promotions after December 31. Talk for Britain involves :
- Purchase £10 of Skype credit using PayPal or a UK-issued credit card
- Wait for up to 72 hours to confirm eligibility
- Free SkypeOut calling within UK for the subsequent six months.
- Program expires Dec. 31 for acquiring the six months free SkypeOut credit. (If you buy Dec. 31, you have free calling to June 30, 2007)
- Call Forwarded calls are not included in the promotion.
Over the past few weeks I have had several queries as the what will happen to these promotions after Dec. 31. Does Talk for Britain start to provide some clues?
With a small monetary commitment required, maybe Skype will get a better handle on the percentage of registered Skype users who are serious about having and using Skype.
In conjunction with this promotion today Skype released the results of their Talk for Britain survey, based on interviews with 1000 members of the general (UK) public. Amongst other revelations:
- Seems like the loo is a very significant component of the mobile call termination infrastructure
- Phone calls have replaced sleeping pills for a significant number of respondents
- We can expect from politicians desperate for attention a cry to enact laws against making calls while driving a tank.
- A caller's worst phone nightmare is being told what they did the night before because they were too inebriated to remember.
According to Alister Shrimpton, Skype's Market Development Manager for the UK:
"The bathroom seems to be a popular place for Britain to do most of its talking. And that goes for both men and women!"
"Skype wants to get everyone talking and our Talk for Britain campaign aims to inspire people all over the UK to start looking at new ways to talk to people for free, or for very little money,"
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