• jaan on Morning jolt of cola: eBay gossip and Skype bizdev misses the point

  > Skype's money is already in the bank and bad
  > card fraud is already factored in.

  incorrect. the credit card companies have up to 6 months (!) to present the merchant (ie, skype) with a chargeback and withdraw the "money previously known as money in the bank".

  - jaan

• Phil Wolff on Morning jolt of cola: eBay gossip and Skype bizdev misses the point

  LV, since we're talking about transactions paid with SkypeOut minutes, Skype's money is already in the bank and bad card fraud is already factored in. The vendors who're giving Skype a 30% cut to be paid have zero risk of overlimit or fraudulent charges. The payer, in this case, is Skype.

  Marc, Skype hasn't made available the technology or services needed to build this kind of service. The API only gives programmers access to the Skype client. To operate an IVR system, supported by voice recognition or not, you need access to large scale, server-focused software. Depending on the customer, you may need to support tens of thousands of simultaneous calls; Skype hasn't offered that technology to anyone except the three companies in this program. There are a wealth of applications to build for or adapt to the Skype network, but Skype's bizdev team has lowered developer expectations through this and similar sweetheart deals.

• Paul Jardine on Morning jolt of cola: eBay gossip and Skype bizdev misses the point

  Marc and LV,

  The API gives no way of collecting revenue in the way these services are being proposed. So, yes, we could build stuff using the APIs to provide service, but it would be free or have a separate payment mechanism.

  The huge opportunity is that there is credit on the Skype account and potentially it could be spent on lots of different things. Minutes are currency in the Premium Rate world, and can be exchanged for lots of things.

  My experience is that MOs take around 55%, so if Skype take 70% (between them and these platform people) then it's not that much more, but 55% is already excessive (evidenced by the lack of interesting applications in the mobile space!). Not sure what the point was in relation to the credit cards? Once the money is credited to the Skype account and verified, then the risk is past. Skype (and visa etc) takes the risk on the original credit card transaction, subsequently they take a cut of transactions. 30% ought to be enough, especially when Visa only take 7-8 on high risk transactions!

  I would not have expected such a wet entry into content delivery from Skype. It takes a lot of effort to come up with something that is WORSE than mobile operators currently offer content providers and Skype managed it! Hardly disruptive.
  

• LV on Morning jolt of cola: eBay gossip and Skype bizdev misses the point

  I have a background with local telcos. From what I understand, they take about as large of a cut from similar offerings (both Voice and SMS), as Skype does with their partners. Though a lower price would always be prefferred, if sustainable.

  About Skype credit being risk free since it is prepaid? I am afraid that it is not that simple. If you have experience with credit card processing (especially for a service that is as hot for fraudsters, as Skype services are), you know that anything bought by credit cards, carries a rather big risk.

• Marc Dangeard on Morning jolt of cola: eBay gossip and Skype bizdev misses the point

  I can understand the disapointment about the model presented by Skype for Voice Services, but then what prevents somebody from building a different model using the API?
  The API is available still, and there are other possible ways to approach Voice Service, so why get depressed, why not just doing it better using the API?
  As you said, Skype can fix it and we can help them do that...

• continued in the Skype Journal Comment River: 200 fresh comments

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