Skype has announced "Free SkypeOut days as a new promotion. As it's summer and I'm relaxing and questioning everything I thought I question this too.

Here is the offers I'd like to see.
1. "Talk As Long as You Want" for Euro 1.00. Many countries have used this offer internationally. Typically it's done / provided on weekends. (cheaper then). Why is it good for Skype? It gets new Skypers talking for a long time. That's the behavior you want to encourage. What's the problem for Skype? I doubt they can guarantee no dropped calls and so their billing system is not up to this one.

2. "Talk MultiSkype" Conference in up to five buddies for the price of one SkypeOut call. This is another behavior that should be encouraged. It was hard to do. This one with a little tweaking could probably be made to work with the current billing system.

What about Free SkypeOut days? It's designed to cost them not very much. On the face of it to get Skypers to try SkypeOut this is an excellent way to try it. It gets them to activate an account and Skype may also get some new spikes in demand.

I don't know if Free 10 minute SkypeOut days will be the same days for everyone. And unless my Skype client tells me with an info bulletin I've very unlikely to go and check my Skype account page daily. Certainly not for 20 cents. Now perhaps that is what Skype is banking on.

They are set up and ready to go. So no harm in trying.