Skype 3.0 Dev Notes including one element I advocated and requested many times over. Call Transfer is finally here in the Skype 3.0 API. That's a big deal and will grow Skype's appeal with developers who now have all sorts of call routing options. At a meeting in Estonia just over a year ago (that happened as the eBay sale was going through) a group long term adovacates put the case for it. I'm very pleased to see it has finally happened. I'll have some other comments on Skype 3.0 although I want to share them in a broader competitive context. My buddies at Skype Journal are writing plenty on the new public chat feature. See Phil and Jim.

See Alec's comment. Skype Dev Zone (lots re extras), Antoine's Dev blog:

Skype 3.0 introduces the long-awaited interface to enable call transfer. Call transfer is being phased in over two releases, and won't be exposed to users until the 3.5 release. The reason for this phased release is to ensure substantial penetration of Skype 3.0 among users, because call transfer requires that all parties are running Skype 3.0 or higher. Our goal is to enable you to start building and testing great new apps now which will be ready to blow peoples' minds away when we release 3.5 next year. No more playing catch up with the client!

Don't miss this TechCrunch post. Important to understanding the changing competitive landscape. TechCrunch UK » Blog Archive » Skype 3.0 (beta) starts the communication platform wars [with the release of Skype4Java,  Skype4COM, and XPCOM wrappers].

I'm getting back to blogging. I expect a few of my posts will turn up here on Skype Journal. For the most part that will be Phil's choice.They will also be posted on Unbound Spiral my personal blog and opinion. I first wrote about Skype there. I also wrote about many other topics, including Disruptive Innovation, Social Networking, Conversational Blogging, Identity, COMsumers, Strategy. I was less "bound" there than when blogging for SkypeJournal where I thought "product reviews", competiive activity and category directed VoIP insights were most important. Most importantly what kept me blogging Skype was the question. "What's your Skype strategy?" It's still important if you are at that stage. It's not the question to focus attention across the broader VoIP segment today. To ask my new question would be premature. Instead here's a teaser. Nice to reconnect. Let's restart the conversation. I've missed blogging. No excuse other than having had my head down and now time to start reaching out.

Is Texting (SMS) killing Chat?
Is there a future for IM as we know it? Instant Messaging? Does it remain a killer application? Or are Skype, Yahoo, Aim, MSN etc... all fatally flawed? Why do mobile operators and handset manufacturers ignore the facts. Why does my mobile remain call centric in a text centric world? I don't know the answer. I did want a provocative intro, share some observations, note some reservations and almost jump to some conclusions..... I'll start with a story about my kids.

Early this year T-Mobile USA announced a special family deal for unlimited text messaging. Then it was $9.99 (all you could eat family of four) today the same option is $19.99. Concurrently they raised individual text message charges to 10cents for both receiving and sending from 5 cents. Until that point my kids had effectively been banned from text messaging. Something that may seem strange in other countries encouraged by other cost structures. I changed my plan. My kids now have unlimted text messaging.

The outcome. In every month since, my two kids (14 and 17) have averaged 500 text messages inbound and outbound. As a family we went from maybe 30 text messages a month to over 2000 (in and out combined). I've watched this pattern now for six months. It's a static level and my kids operate now in a different paradigm.

Changing Texting Observations.

• Circle of Friends: The kids text within an inner circle. It's a relatively small group. From this group they like the interruptions or pings of a new message coming in. My son in particular will often text rather than call. They use text messaging in a real-time way. For the most part they answer and have short exchanges. Calls don't happen unless its free time or there is some quick organizing to do. Meeting where, driving etc.


• Less IM: My daughter has all but abandoned AIM. My son continues to use IM systems however, it's not the primary mode of communication. The mobile is. From what I see / observe / and they have reported they use IM significantly less now than six months ago. Most of their friends I think are similar. They too have unlimited text messaging. I'd make some observations about their phones separately.


• Locked Down. IM systems are often locked down. Privacy limits communications to buddies if a "spam" problem exists. The mobile is also locked down currently. It costs money to call or send a message.. although from their perspective messaging is now free. An important aspect and possible change here. Their mobile number is more important than their AIM handle. It's the always on connection for them. It's also privacy related.


• Presence: The current availability, away, not available etc. presence message isn't doing anything to retain users. (I'll look at that in more detail in a separate post.) Where there is already intimacy with an inner circle of friends "you know" roughly what they are up to. Need proof? Why is it that voice centric IM clients like Skype simply result in chats "can you talk now / context?" first? Simply, the presence systems aren't adding major value.

I arrived in India this week for a project. I'm snapping pictures and uploading them to my Flickr page. At this point I've given up on cameras. All were shot using a Nokia N70 mobile. Skype content low to non-existing. I am beginnning to understand why India is such a challenging market to crack. Best buy in India. PS2 games at 80 rupees. Less than $2.00 US. I won't ask how they do that. Similarly watching them refilling printer cartridges. Around 100 rupees for a black cartridge. Such illustrations really challenge some US business models. Is obvious that "mobiles" are the future here.

On transport. In one auto-rickshaw the driver tapped a pedestrian. In another the driver tapped a motorcycle and passenger. Then in another we went down the wrong side of a very busy intersection. Crossing streets in Old Delhi took on new meaning. I'll never walk through passing cars quite the same way again. I'm still laughing about the experience. Cellphones have even reached the rickshaw drivers.

You know the fancy system you get with your cellphone that provides access to your voice mail. Now imagine you could dial your own Skype Assistant and retrieve all your chat messages, voice mails, and emails too. Then add in the capability to direct / forward your calls to others when you aren't there. Plus you would like to access Skype's low rates from your cell. For some this could be pretty cool.

Turns out you can do all this and more with Wispa. Wispa enables you to access your Skype account (you must have SkypeIn!) from any phone. Simply call up your Skype account and start interacting with the voice attendant and DTMF tones. The voice is one of those MS voices so it isn't the sexiest choice in the world. Still it is intelligible and you have a few voices to choose from.

Setting it up is a little daunting at first. There are just a lot of options. However, click the security tab and add your security code and you are up and running for the simple stuff. This personal attendant is one of the most powerful apps I've seen for Skype. Where Wispa may have the most relevance right now is for a small distributed office. Set up Wispa to handle the inbound calls and provide yourself with the capability to monitor activity while away from the office.

I have it on good authority that a new and updated version is coming in a few days. The user interface will be enhanced and additional help wizards will be provided.

I'm looking for the Skype world record holder. The person that has amassed the most Skype buddies on his buddylist. I know of one person that has more than 1000 and more than a few with 300 to 500. However I'm looking for you if you have more than 1000. I'd like to hear your stories about your buddylist and how it came into being. I'm not looking for a solution that is a "Skype corporate client" eg a client everyone in the company has added as a buddy. I would be interested in any of these "server" applications as a separate category. Thus if anyone has registered more than 1000's of people on a Skype client I want to talk to you too. Sort of the biggest Skype corporate ecosystem. Now who has that?

Why? I bet there are some good stories in it. Separately, I know that this is a core group of exceptional Skype users. The buddylist is long enough to test any new API or Wi-Fi phone that comes along. You have tested Skype in more ways than most people at Skype. I'm also interested in user profiles. I have a little hypothesis that says... Skypers are breaking the rules that existed on other buddylists (orginally most only allowed 100 buddies). There may be no correlation between number of buddies and usage. Still I'm interested to learn more about thresholds. If you have a 1000 buddies and me just over 300... what's the expected impact on time, calls, number of messages etc. In other words I want to know more about your Skype life. Please comment or call me and share. Thanks.

If you hold the world record and don't want publicity please still introduce yourself. I'll respect your privacy. If you want to boast. Leave a comment and a link to your profile. Example skype:stuart_henshall?userinfo

Thanks!

Buddylist NDA. I've always thought that what I shared via my buddylist "presence" "mood messages" was between me and my buddies. Now that is not always the case. There's an "unofficial" Skype Plug-in that's getting a little testing on the side. A couple of my favorite Skypers are involved. Kevin Delaney and Jaanus Kase. Moodgeist is their project and sets a dangerous precedent. To my knowledge this is the first time the idea of a "buddylist NDA" has been breached in the use of a plug-in.

The description for Moodgeist is below. An example of how my "mood" was exported is in the picture. Note it is anonymous. My mood at the top of the list. However, they probably have my name on the export as they are capturing mood information across different users. The problem is not these two guys and their neat little program. It's a great experiment and I'm sure there is nothing nefarious in the code. The problem is. I can't trust others and what they put on their PC's. They may even mistakenly put something on their PC.

Then we have bots harvesting names, capturing and exporting data and exchanges. The only way to stop on accessing your info drop is to drop all your buddies. Now clearly that doesn't work.

SkypeAttendant is a test program that demonstrates a simple IVR system for Skype. Like many companies you can request an extention and then be directed there. This demo is important for it shows the power that will exist on your desktop when Skype finally enables "call transfer" in the API. It's a wait-listed API item. We still don't know when it is coming. When it does, it is a game changer.

SkypeAttendant is a bilingual(Chinese/English) auto-attendant system for Skype. It can be used in a company, or just for a group of friends that would like to share a common representative skype account.

A demo scenario (skype:delta.com.tw?call) is listed below.

From this example, you call to delta.com.tw, and would like to speak to a person whose Skype account name is “Skype sound test”.

System: “Welcome to SkypeAttendant system. 歡迎使用自動總機.
國語請按1, for English service please press 2.” (if you do not press any key, the system default is Chinese)
Caller: (press 2) System: “Please say the name that you want to speak to.”
Caller: “Skype sound test”
System: “Skype sound test. OK, cancel, retry?”
Caller: “OK”
System: “Transferring call, wait a moment please.”
(connecting to echo123… connected)
echo123:”Hello, welcome to Skype call testing service…”Skype Attendant

I thought Lycos was a search engine. Now it seems they are in the phone business. In a deal that has been structured with Globe7 the Lycos Phone Beta is now available. What's intriguing about this deal is the opportunity to "earn" free talk time through partner offers. Then one look at them put me off. Overall we have another clumsy VoIP client. Sound quality is narrow band, and the usual SIP issues like authenticating your buddies and poor presence information just mimic other "telco" productions. For a Skyper it is a good illustration that UI's (user interface) matter. It also reinforces that all sorts of new content and value creation opportunities are coming to theIM/Voice/Video client.

Lycos is redefining a new path by delivering unlimited entertainment across the globe to your lap. Now you need not browse other websites for information as information will be tunneled directly to you. Watch Globe7 TV in full screen by just double-clicking on the screen.Globe7 TV

So a multimodal media experience is here which includes a telephone. Is there any difference to adding IM and PSTN to MSN Media Player" or "Quicktime"? Integrating the "video" channel is the future. "Dialing" or clicking for content is easy. BTW.. .why can't I add channels already to Skype? Oh that's right it is proprietary! Maybe a deal with Apple is in the works.

Overall, Lycos Phone is beta so I should be light handed with criticism that is easy to dish out until you have to create one of these monsters yourself. As a voice client, it doesn't do it. It's twice the size of Skype to download. Why? Does it contain a desktop snooping agent? I have no idea. Maybe because it is executed in Java? Next, getting it logged in and running was too hard. I managed to make a regular phone call before I made a PC to PC call. The beta came with $1.00 credit. 100 free minutes to the US for those that want it... and the hassle. I'd say it isn't worth it. Money won't buy you happiness in this instance.

Did it work?

Bob Frankston writes on "Skype as the Future of the Connectivity". He links to a paper ("Silver Needle in the Skype") that is going round from another set of researchers who try to figure out how it all works.

Bob writes:

Skype’s encrypted communications is vital because it allows connectivity without having to trust intermediaries and, even better — it frustrates attempts to block the traffic even if some corporate IT managers view that as a deficiency.

Encrypting the code itself is less important. It serves mainly to prevent third parties from vetting the code for simple bugs or maliciousness. Perhaps the real value is in the four billion dollars eBay paid. But biggest value to eBay may not be in the voice business but in creating a trust community that frustrates phishing and local gatekeepers. The basic concepts should work fine even with the code fully exposed – that’s a basic tenet of secure communications.

The Skype approach doesn’t solve all problems of edge relationships. For example, how do you know the JohnSmith you are trying to reach is the one you think it is? Of course you have the same problem in the real world in recognizing friend vs foe so we must tolerate surprises.

The authors of the paper focused on the crypto aspects. The real importance is in helping others understand how to create communities that operate at the edge of the network independent.

Read his whole post on SATN.

I'm always interested in how profiles and data will converge and who they will benefit. Is this the darker side of eBay vendors enabled with Skype? Many of you may have seen it. If you haven't it is really very funny. Click to Play




So how close to the truth is it?