Skype for Apple iPhone OS4

David Ponsford demonstrated Skype as a background app at last week's Apple briefing on the iPhone OS 4, coming mid-2010. John Chang, Skype's lead iPhone developer, helped with the demo. David came to Skype from SpinVox Skype's voicemail-to-text partner.

Several features announced at the OS4 preview event affect Skype. Multitasking, location services, data encryption service, and a user alerting service. David answered a few questions by email.

Skype Journal: Now that two apps can be running at the same time, will OS4 let Skype expose its own APIs to third party Apple developers to build iPhone or iPad plug-ins? Are apps now allowed to talk with each other?

David Ponsford: Co-operation between 3rd party apps was not something that was discussed at the iPhone OS 4.0 preview by Apple.

Skype in the iPhone's background, shown on a second status bar, at the top.

SJ: What does Apple's encryption service add beyond what Skype for iPhone does now? Could there be efficiencies? Will OS4's encryption protocols be compatible with Skype's? Aside from encrypting Skype-to-Skype and Skype-to-Server communication, might they be used to increase the privacy of Skype data stored locally on an Apple mobile device?

DP: We are still evaluating Apple’s new enterprise features. All Skype-to-Skype communications are encrypted, as a matter of course. Our users’ privacy is of paramount importance to us.

SJ: Which of Skype's features will be turned off when running in the background? Will Skype's SILK codec be available during background calls?

DP: We are still evaluating all the new features available to us as part of the iPhone OS 4.0 developer preview that was released on Thursday. Early indications are that that Skype-to-Skype calls will still use the full capabilities of the SILK codec, even when they are in the background.

SJ: I haven't seen any Skype alerts on the iPhone so far. Does Skype use the existing alert service? For which notifications? Will you change the types of alerts Skype uses to communicate with a user? The frequency?

DP: Thursday’s technology demo of iPhone OS 4.0, in which Skype participated, used the new local notification system to show that an incoming Skype call was happening.

SJ: Apple is creating stronger technical and experience design differences between the 3GS and earlier iPhones, the iPod Touch family, and the iPad. Will Skype need to offer different software for the platforms or will you be able to offer one OS4 app that adjusts to each device?

DP: It is too early for Skype to give a definitive answer on this specific point; however, it will be our goal to make a single download available to all iPhone users that want Skype, making it super simple to get Skype for your iPhone, with all the features available for it.

SJ: Now that location services are available to Skype through APIs, what will you consider before making it easy or automatic for users to pipe their location into their Skype's presence?

DP: If Skype believes there is a significant benefit to our customers to offer location-based services, we will look at how these can be offered, while making sure that privacy and other customer experience issues are taken into account at the same time.

SJ: Skype on Verizon Android and Blackberry phones is promising betting integration with native address books. Do the OS4 APIs make it easier to offer similar sync, data population, and dialing features in Skype?

DP: Skype will be evaluating the new APIs available to all developers in order to understand what new features they offer us in order to create the best user experience possible for our users.

SJ: How did you wind up on stage in Cupertino?

DP: My dashing good looks, confusing accent and need to get Gold status on Virgin Atlantic...

SJ: What's Steve Jobs' Skype name?

DP: I don’t know this one. J

tags: skype, apple, iphone, mobile, ipod, os4

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Happy 4th Birthday, Twitter!

Congratulations, Twitter! To get the most out of both Skype and Twitter, try Twype. Julian Bond's Twype (Windows) pipes your latest tweet to your Skype mood message.

Four things Skype could learn from Twitter:

1. "Sign in with Twitter" makes having a Twitter identity more valuable to customers and web site owners. "Sign in with Skype" would be an easy hit.
2. Twitter Lists show how important and useful it is to organize your contacts and share them.
3. Twitter's API makes it easy to create Twitter clients, devices, and services. Twitter encourages the marketplace of ideas to experiment with user experience and add value. Server-based APIs get uptake; client-side ones like Skype's don't.
4. Following is not Friending. Twitter shows the value of supporting asymmetric relationships. You can fill your inbox with a stream of news, family, celebrity life, and colleague updates. You can share opinion and updates with the world, just to those your trust, or privately one-to-one. Although Skype is fantastic at symmetric, mutually close, relationships, it's a blunt tool for treating the many kinds of people in your world.

Three things Twitter could learn from Skype:

1. Community supported localization. More markets, every product, with the help of volunteers.
2. The Freemium business model can work. Cash fuels growth and keeps customers loyal.
3. Ladder of intimacy. Skype makes it easy to shift conversations from presence to IM to voice to video. Twitter doesn't let you dive deeper into a conversation without leaving.

Happy Birthday! And thanks for all the fun.

tags: twitter, skype, twype, #twitterday

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

16 Things I learned from GDC Wednesday

I went to the Game Developers Conference yesterday.

1. Team voice chat is now a commodity, a feature you can buy/rent for your game from companies like GameSpy.
2. Players of team games don't like in-game voice chat.
   • They want to talk with teammates outside of the game before team play (planning, coordination, training) and after (after-action reports, peer feedback).
   • They want to keep their group together independent of a game service. They want the freedom to take their clan/tribe/friends to another world/network.
3. They like the ownership and control Ventrilo offers but don't want its inconvenience and cost.
4. Nobody in GDC's "audio track" is discussing voice chat. They care about designing a game's sounds and score and how to integrate them into the product and the gaming experience.
5. Facebook and asynchronous gameplay have everyone's attention. AAA games are too expensive and slow-to-market unless you are very well funded. "Social games" cost less and make it easier to diversify, experiment and learn from your customers.
6. Interoperability among games and player data portability are not interesting here. I wonder if activity streams might find some fans.
7. Open source? What's open source?
8. Creative commons? Oh, that could save on licensing art and music.
9. Scarce talent? Producers with game experience. Recruiters settle for product managers from non-game software companies and try to reshape them for the game culture. I can't believe CAA doesn't have a practice to represent senior and up-and-coming game talent. By the way, this is a relatively new problem; five years' ago the hunt was for technical and storytelling talent.
10. Auteurs seem to be the hub of studios and publishers collect them, steal them, and shore up their weaknesses.
11. Game studios assemble teams for each stage in a game's life cycle, staffing up and moving people out as needed. The kind of project culture you see in civil engineering and Hollywood. 
12. Like film schools, schools for game makers teach teamwork and collaboration, including when to stab a fellow student in the back and kick the "dead weight" off the team.
13. All the bigger live game companies are building deep pools of knowledge about player behavior, psychology, and how designs affect both. Deep and secret pools of knowledge.
14. Hallway talk is nearly always better than the presentations. Companies compete with secret technologies, designs, and features. This means they only share widely known history and practices. Insights are sparse.
15. Apple's iPad is droolworthy for game developers. Designers are imagining much richer mobile experiences than can fit on a phone's screen.
16. Publishers confront a difficult and costly tradeoff. How do you make each game for every kind of device and user location (iPhone, iPad, PC, Wii, PSP, Xbox, SMS, television, etc.) with a consistent feel and identity while somehow adapting the experience to the strengths and limits of each platform and adding incentives to play across multiple modes? Resources are finite.

tags: gdc, gdc10, gdc2010, games, skype, voip, chat

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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photo: cc-by Official GDC

Can they turn Skype Lite into a Skype Platform?

Skype has some brilliant capabilities. Advanced audio codecs, miraculous network survival, global distribution and payment partners, buying power that drives down per-minute costs. While supporting mobile phones, however, Skype built something that can change the way we look at the company.

It's called Skype Lite.

Skype Lite is a service that lets you talk from mobile phones. Unlike the Skype for iPhone client or the desktop clients, Skype Lite is not a member of the Skype peer-to-peer cloud. So, how does it work?

First you run a Skype Lite client on a mobile phone. Sometimes it comes pre-installed by the handset manufacturer or the mobile operator.

Lite is designed for phones without much processor power. So it doesn't include advanced Skype voice codecs, video features, or much more than login, presence, IM, and voice calling.

"Full" Skype clients, like Skype for Windows and Skype for the iPhone, push both voice and data over data channels.

The Skype Lite client sends its data through the mobile network's data channel. Voice calls travel through the mobile network's voice channel, just like regular mobile phone calls. That first leg of a Skype call, from the mobile phone, is neither VoIP nor protected by Skype's encryption.

How does your data get into the Skype network? Skype operates gateway servers. The gateway's first job is to bring back together data and voice streams from a Lite client or break apart streams going to a Lite client.

Now that your call is back together, the Skype gateway passes your conversation to a version of Skype tailored for servers. Let's call it Naked Skype. "Naked" because engineers streamlined the program to leave out user interface, the Skype Extras program manager, and other components servers don't need.

Like Skype on your PC, each Naked Skype connects to the Skype cloud using the Joltid Skype p2p engine.

That cloud lets you talk or IM with your fellow Skype users.

It also lets you use other Skype services, like receive phone calls from your Skype Online Numbers or call through Skype's SkypeOut gateways to regular phone numbers.

Clearly there are many naked Skype copies running on a bunch of servers. [Bunch is a technical term.] Since most Skype users, especially most mobile users, aren't using Skype most of the time, the Skype server farms (a server farm is a collection of related servers) can support many Skype Lite users.

The servers have management software that helps start and stop Naked Skype's and route Lite traffic to Naked instances. This management layer makes the whole "thin client" strategy possible. It's why Skype is available to over 90% of all mobile phones.

A business note: Like the engineering of the Naked client and Lite client, the administrative layer was hard to design, engineer, and tune. Because it was complex and difficult, it is a barrier to entry for competitors and for partners. Many IM and VoIP companies make and operate Skype gateways to provide even a little interoperability between Skype and their services. Those gateways are a cost, risk, and delay each Skype partner must carry just to have their products work with the Skype cloud.

So that's how Skype Lite works. 

But that's just the start.

Skype Lite does four valuable things.

1. Skype Lite hosts a "naked Skype" client.
• It's lightweight, without video, user interface, or other cruft.
• It's reliable and very efficient and is moving to Skype's next generation of unified API. 
2. Skype Lite separates user experience from the network.
• Teams can build different UIs for different mobile devices.
• Lowers compute and networking burden on mobiles.
• This makes it easy to update everyone's engine without updating each phone.
• It provides metrics on usage rates to inform design, operations, and inform partner relationships.
3. Skype Lite defines a protocol.
• The protocol connects mobile thin clients to the Skype Gateway server.
• The protocol defines how programmers can control everything the mobile Skype client can do. The protocol includes authentication, presence, chat, voice calls, profile editing, and picture or video sharing.
4. Skype scales the gateway like a cloud
• It's efficient, with many Lite clients supported by a few Skype servers.
• It's flexible, building and destroying instances with demand.
• It's location aware (somewhat), cutting latency (the time delay between bits on your phone and bits at their destination) by positioning Naked Skype instances around the world and in telephone company data centers.

So Skype built a platform.

A private platform. 

This creates an opportunity.  

Skype could open up its gateway to more than the Lite client. They could publish a public version of the protocol.

• Independent developers could build Skype clients tailored to markets they know well.
• Software companies could integrate Skype talk into their applications.
• Web sites could let users "Log In With Your Skype ID." Or tell your Skype contacts about a story.
• Services could mash-up Skype with other web service APIs.
• Desktop apps could send files privately using Skype's security.

All of this would make it more valuable than ever to be a Skype user.

That's a little of what happens when you open the protocol.

Skype can do more. They can power the gateway to support more than the Lite modes. 

Skype can add new features to the gateway over time.

Spatialization of audio for immersive experiences like high fidelity video conferencing or in-world games.

Higher resolution video, moving from High Quality 640x480 to Hi-Def to REDCODE RAW 4520x2540 pixels.

Richer syntax for presence. More metadata for mood.

This would also be a great time to unify Skype's APIs. "One API to rule them all."

• Making/taking Skype sessions
• Skype calls, IM, file transfer
• Skype account creation, deletion
• Skype profile editing
• Skype control panel for organizations
• Skype Credit deposits and payments
• Skype ID authentication (Login with Skype)
• More to come…

A unified public API and a rich mode server gets you almost all the way there.

Skype needs two more things to complete the new platform.

First, Skype must find new ways to distribute some of its secret sauce. Developers need Skype's encryption binaries, so Skype calls and chats can remain private. Developers need access to Skype's own codecs (SILK audio) and to codecs licensed by Skype (On2 video) to assure compatibility with all Skype users. Developers and designers also need Skype's default media assets, like Skype's emoticons or Skype's memorable sound palette, that complete the Skype experience.

Skype would also want SDKs (software developer kits) for popular programming languages, frameworks, and delivery systems. Anything to help programmers create a quick Skype app in an hour, to prove they can get to the good stuff quickly.

That would do it.

So.

What do you get? 

"Just Add Skype"

• Millions of programmers can add Skype to their toolkits.
• Metered access to the gateway.
• Commissions for driving paying users to Skype.

Skype as a Platform could be a great driver of innovation, adaptation, and integration for Skype. And revenue.

P.S. I'm sure this is both incomplete and in error on some points. I don't know if this is on Skype's roadmap; they're not telling. This seems to me to be as close as we can get until Skype shares more of their "platform" plans. Please correct me if you have specific information that could improve my diagrams and explanations of things as they are now.

P.P.S. How would you use a service like this? And how much would you pay (thinking metered service like Google, Amazon, and Voxeo cloud services)?

See also:

• Slides on Scribd, Slides on Slideshare.net, slides on flickr.
• Mindmap of Skype product family

tags: analysis, api, apis architecture, architectures, business, cloud, cloudcomputing, clouds, developerrelations, developers, devrels, evanwolf, gateway, iskoot, lite, naked, nakedskype, p2p, philwolff, platform, platforming, programming, saap, saas, server, sip, skype, skypejournal, skypelite, strategy, technology

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Cool demo: Google Wave + Skype + Asterisk + Ibook

He's in a wave. Adds a gadget. Passes a Skype name to a gadget. Browser-to-Skype call starts.

They talk. As each person talks for a bit, their bit is encoded and linked-to.

So you have a play-by-play record of a call.

Inside a Google wave.

Under the covers: Jason Goecke said "it is a Google Wave Gadget with his PhoneFromHere.com IAX2 Java softphone as the client. Then, the IAX2 Java phone connects to Asterisk with Skype for Asterisk installed. Then, there is a server-side element, Ibook, that is breaking apart utterances into individual files. So that as each person speaks, it captures it into its own file. Then, as that happens, a text frame is sent from Asterisk to the softphone with the file details. The gadget then uses some Javascript to embed a link. IAX2 supports text frames."

This is cool (like I really had to tell you).

First, it shows what it's like to build Skype calls into other applications. Without a Skype client running. (Pardon my drooling.)

Second, it deconstructs a long talk into directly referenceable snippets. (Still needs permalinks in addition to the playable links). This means you can annotate live calls with transcripts, pictures, etc. So the call's Binary Large Object becomes binary tiny objects.

Third, because the snippets are referred to by a wave, other gadgets and bots can enhance the archive. Add or remove background noise. Translate and provide voiceovers in your language. Highlight statistically improbable phrases. Detect stress in a voice. Visualize the data in a timeline or a relationship scorecard (who talked more?). Add tags to help you find this wave again.

Fourth, no phone numbers were called in the making of this demo. Phone companies weren't bothered. Internet all the way.

Fifth, because this is within the context of a wave, it should be possible to use wave member data to lookup Skype names and bring people into an open conference room.

Am I overstating it?

tags: skype, asterisk, astricon, googlewave, wave, ibook, digium, phonefromhere, demo, video

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Wish For A Custom Skype App Contest

Skype developer Don Kennedy will write a Skype program for you. Free. In two weeks. Just ask for what you want in the comments below. "Dear Don, I wish Skype could..."

Don built a Skype bot that translates live Skype chats in 43 languages. An app that monitors your subscription use. A tool that lets you make Skype calls from your mobile through your PC with Skype using a normal mobile phone.

So I challenged Don to build for the #lazyweb. For a random stranger with a clear need.

And it's up to you.

Rules:

1. Post your requests as comments to this Skype Journal post or as tweets to @SkypeJournal by Saturday, 31 November 2009, midnight Pacific (GMT-8).
2. Multiple requests are fine.
3. You may request anonymously, however you won't win a prize. You can DM contact info to me @SkypeJournal or in email to the editor at Skype Journal dot com.
4. I will select and announce Don's project 1 November 2009, Sunday.
5. Don will post his solution, ready or not, on 15 November 2009. Not for Mac, Linux or iPhone.
6. Should Don fail to deliver on time, the winner, if in the US, will also get an Everyman freetalk headset courtesy of In Store Solutions.
7. The application will be free for everyone to use.
8. All contest decisions are mine and are final.

So be creative.

What new feature would you like in Skype?

tags: skype, free, contest, hacks, lazyweb, #lazyweb

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Why Skype needed to kill off its developer program

Killing Skype's developer program was an exercise in business discipline. You prune your tree of small, weak, sickly branches so nutrients and sunlight let the whole tree flourish.

Skype's developer program (SDP) has been bloodless for years. By every measure. Growth in programmers. Number of ecosystem products. Value contributed.

What devalued Skype's developer program?

5. Musical chair management.

I've lost count of the number of managers who've taken a stab at leading Skype developer relations in the last six years. It takes time and focus to be good at devrels, to build your devrels organization, to establish rapport and relationships with prospective partners.

4. Underfunding.

Skype's management shortchanged the developer program for Skype's first four years. DevRels never got the budget or headcount it needed to educate, evangelize and support developers. Software and hardware certifications, intended to promote the Skype brand and build trust, instead became a barrier to entry and a costly delay. 

Metaphor Bank:
Prune a tree,
Remove chometz,
A controlled burn,
Put down a diseased pet,
Excise a tumor,
Balance a project portfolio,
Dumping ballast,
set developers free (Schumpeter creative destruction).

3. Broken trust.

Two steps forward, one step crushing partners. Skype me for the sad details of developers who bet on Skype's constancy and lost. Lost money. Lost jobs. Lost careers. A trail of tears and dashed hopes.

2. Who You Know.

Want to get something done with Skype? You needed an inside friend. Skype's much better now that a process culture's emerging, but it's still true.

1. Six Year Old Technology.

The perfect developer relations program cannot put lipstick on a pig.

1a. Client-only Calling APIs: So no putting Skype inside your app.

Skype's web services are all proprietary, off-limits to the ecosystem. Skype runs "naked Skype" server farms to support its Skype Lite mobile application. Skype Lite does most things a desktop client does, through Internet APIs, and without resource hungry user interfaces. It's an internal Skype as a Platform service.

Skype's third-party developers want Skype as a Platform. A SaaP would bring Skype features and the Skype network to web and mobile applications. Web applications are nearly always better business than rich clients. They cost less, don't have installation problems, are less prone to user failure, are always fresh, and take less time for customers to get their first Aha! experience.

1b. Closed Skype client: So no putting your app inside Skype.

Skype keeps users from seeing third party developers. With the Adobe Photoshop Plugin and Firefox Extension architectures, for example, you can write apps that live inside Photoshop or Firefox. They improve a user's productivity and alter the user experience. They bring specialist expertise to the exact point where users need them.

While Skype's Public API (downloadable SDK) lets your desktop program talk to Skype's desktop software, it doesn't let you change what users see and do. The Skype UI is off-limits, verboten, pristine.

So you cannot offer inline language translation, extended emoji sets, inline Yahoo! Calendar reminders, or enrich contact profiles with updates about your friends' activities. If you cannot put your enhancements where a user needs them, why build them? 

In short, the business and technology sides of the SDP were impaired to the point of irrelevance.

Skype needs to reset the program. And its platform.

More soon.

tags: skype, devrels, developers, apis, saap

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype Night in Sapporo

Would love to have Skype Nights in California, but that's just me. Here are some snapshots from 10 September in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.

Mr. Shinichi Iwata, general manager of Skype Japan spoke. He concluded "Skype is expanding, it's going viral, I hope to introduce it more and more."

London video called in to the group. And Poken were sold and exchanged.

  

Thanks to Takako Tominaga, Daizi Ikeda (flickr), BitStar, skype_sapporo (@skype_sapporo), you1, takako yoshi (post), the Hypocrite blog, for the tweets, posts, and photos.

tags: skype, devrels, marketing, japan, events, skypenight, community, sapporo, hokkaido

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Developer: "badly managed"

Comment by an anonymous independent Skype Developer Program member since 2005, enthusiastic about Skype Extras since it was announced.

This again represents a lack of good management at Skype.

Skype as part of eBay could have worked really well if there were the people with a vision and the will to see through that vision. For example the "Skype alert" facility which passed eBay messages to Skype as a chat message was great. Until the feature was dropped in Skype version 4!

A company such as Skype is only as strong as the people around it. This means the end-users and, very importantly, the developer ecosystem. Microsoft has always been good at getting developers "into bed" with them.

Skype has shown that it regards the developer community as not being of interest to them, because it believes that the Skype Extras program has not attracted much interest. The reason for that is that it was badly managed: new entries and updates to Skype Extras took too long to appear, there was no clear and easy way to monetize an Extra once it was there and overall one gets the feeling that Skype didn't really "care" about this project.

tags: skype, devrels, extras

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype Eats More Young: RIP Skype's software developers relations program.

Skype clients have APIs. Thousands of developers wrote Mac, Windows, and Linux software controlling a Skype client through the API. Call recording, desktop sharing, games, commerce; thousands of products.

While Skype will maintain the API, the developer relations program around it is over. The commerce component: Dead. "Skype Certified" software: Dead. Support: Dead.

Skype will continue to engineer the communications API.

They won't help you promote your software.
They won't help you test and improve your software.
They won't help you co-brand your software.
They won't help you distribute your software.
They won't help you sell your software.
They won't help you process payments.
They won't help you keep up to date on API changes.

Not that they'd executed terribly well on these in the past.

But that's what they're defunding.

Presumably all that energy and money will go into a new program for developers. Skype moved some of its devrels people to new teams, some to a team working on the public version of Skype's future cloud communications platform.

Was there a good reason to kill off the old program before the new one was up? Skype won't say. Will the old community fare poorly on the new platform? Does the current community of developers not build a million dollars in yearly value to the Skype brand? Do these developers have anywhere else to turn?

This Dear John letter went out today to registered developers along with a blog post saying much the same thing. 

Subject: The future of Skype Extras Program
From: [Someone at Skype]

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:52:23 +0100

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am contacting you on behalf of the Skype Extras Program.

Unfortunately I have to announce that the Skype Extras program will be shut down, effective September 11rd 2009.  Despite the incredible breadth of Extras developed for Skype, simply not enough people were using them to justify our continued support of the Extras program.  It was a tough decision for us, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our time and resources to deliver our core products such as voice and video, expanding Skype among business users, and expanding Skype into mobile and other platforms. The following changes will be effective from September 11th onwards:

• We have decided that we will no longer certify new Extras. However, all existing Extras will stay certified until their expiration dates and all unused test tickets will be reimbursed.
• We will continue to distribute applications through the existing Extras Manager in Skype for Windows but will no longer add new Extras to the Extras Manager.
• All public API documents will continue to be maintained Skype will also support accessories via the Public API.
• The Skype Shop <http://shop.skype.com/extras/>  will continue to support the currently listed Extras

This decision also influences the payment terms that are currently in place. After December 11, Skype will no longer allow the use of Skype credit by 3rd Party Extras developers. A final invoice detailing the full amount of the gross revenue received from Skype users must be submitted within 45 days of this date. After the 25th of January, Skype will no longer be able to process publisher invoices.

We understand the impact that this decision will have on our community. If you have any additional questions regarding the payment terms or any of the other listed changes please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards,

See also: Alec Saunders' Go Big, or Go Home. But Please, Spare Us The Whinging….

tags: skype, devrels, extras

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype Builds Multiparty Video Calling While Google Buy's Skype's Video Engine

Skype is recruiting video engineers to work on Skype's next generation of video calling. This may raise the barre in multiparty video calls. At least it matches what ooVoo, iChat, and Sightspeed do.

Meanwhile, Google will buy On2 Technologies, makers of Skype's video engine. Conflict of interest? Maybe.

Coincidence? Somehow I don't think so. 

Here's the official job listing. [Emphasis mine]

Video Codec Developer

developer stockholm tallinn usa video

Team

Skype video development team is developing technology enabling high quality multi-way, multi-modal video communications experience over the Internet on x86 based Personal Computers as well as embedded platforms targeted for Mobile- and Consumer Electronic devices. We are continuing to expand this exceptional team and are thus looking for highly experienced, talented and motivated individuals capable of both working collaboratively with others as well as making significant individual contributions.

Responsibilities

As a member of the video team you will be engaged at the forefront of Skype's innovation of breakthrough solutions to real-time IP video communication on heterogeneous networks. You will be expected to play an active role in the generation, development, verification and delivery of new concepts and methods for video coding as well as pre- and postprocessing of realtime video for enhanced quality.

Requirements

• degree in image/video/signal processing/compression
• minimum 3 years experience of H.264 AVC/SVC video codec algorithms development
• must have developed algorithms for a video codec that went to productization phase
• detailed understanding of underlying technology behind H.264 AVC/SVC
• Understanding of realtime requirements and error resilience toolset of H.264
• Understanding of signaling protocol for video
• Excellent skills in technical communication and teamwork.
• Command of programming languages including Matlab, C, and C++.
• Excellent command of English.

Location - Stockholm, Sweden; Tallinn, Estonia; Europe, various locations; Bay Area, US

Ref: VIDEO-CODEC-DEV 

tags: skype, video, codec, H.264, AVC/SV, matlab, c, c++, coding, encoding, algorithms, dsp, compression, stockholm, tallinn

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Re: Apple bans App Store’s 3rd-most prolific developer

Apple ejected Perfect Acumen's 900 useless apps, ostensibly for copyright infringement, wrote Gagan Biyani for MobileCrunch.

My advice to Apple and other mobile app store operators?

Be upfront and consistent with your developers. New policy? Set expectations through proper notice and change management. Developers need a playing field everyone can trust.

As for the rules, stick to technical merit.

Utility should be left to buyers.

A store should help users choose well, distinguish gems from rubble. A store should help users talk about products, before and after buying, with suppliers and with each other. 

Tolerate crap in the store.

There should be horrible, disturbing, wastes of screen space. Just like there's lots of crap everywhere else on the Internet.

Mounds of trite and useless apps show developers experimenting with your medium, show evolutionary pressure is at work, induce newbies to jump in to do better. You're doing plenty by checking basic safety issues, like does-this-app-brick-my-iphone or is-this-app-malware. 

Be a common carrier.

Let the infringed sue the infringer, the offended mouth off, the developer express controversial notions and values. Let the marketplace of ideas choose freely. Stick to helping people find and run apps.

Software is speech.

Safeguard that speech.

Even when you'd never invite it home for supper.

tags: apple, iphone, devrels, appstore, perfectacumen, policy

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Skype races to replace Joltid's p2p by June 2010

From eBay's SEC filing of form 10Q: 

Skype licenses peer-to-peer communication technology from Joltid Limited pursuant to a license agreement between the parties.

That's the software that lets your Skype client find and talk with other Skype clients. Joltid Limited is a British Virgin Islands company.

The parties had been discussing a dispute over the license.

Skype's founders want a second payday. They flubbed their $2 billion dollar payout at eBay, missing targets, settling for a nine figure buyout.

In March 2009, Skype Technologies S.A. filed a claim in the English High Court of Justice (No. HC09C00756) against Joltid Limited.

Skype picked the venue.

Following the filing of the claim, Joltid purported to terminate the license agreement between the parties.

"We're ending your license." "You're just purporting to end our license."

In particular, Joltid has alleged that Skype should not possess, use or modify certain software source code

Presumably, someone at Joltid provided that source code to Skype. Their contract (not yet public) may have detailed how that code was to be used. Or not.

and that, by doing so, and by disclosing such code in certain U.S. patent cases pursuant to orders from U.S. courts, Skype has breached the license agreement.

Since this is about facts, discovery should be interesting.

From an earlier SEC filing:

In particular, Joltid has alleged that Skype should not possess, use or modify certain software code (the "Code") and that, by doing so, and by disclosing the Code in certain U.S. patent cases, pursuant to orders from U.S. courts, it has breached the license agreement.

On the basis of, among other things, the parties' mutual dealings since the execution of the licence agreement, Skype is asking the English High Court for declaratory relief, including findings that:

(i) Skype is lawfully accessing, in possession of, using and modifying the Code so that Skype is not in breach of the license agreement with Joltid and accordingly Joltid's notice of breach and subsequent notice of termination are invalid;

(ii) Skype lawfully disclosed the Code in the U.S. patent cases so that Skype is not in breach of the license agreement with Joltid and accordingly Joltid's notice of breach and subsequent notice of termination are invalid; and

(iii) Joltid has certain indemnity obligations in relation to the U.S. patent proceedings.

Skype sued first, to finalize Joltiid's claims. Skype is asking the court to rule Skype didn't breach the contract and the contract is still in effect.

So, of course, Joltid sues back...

Joltid has brought a counterclaim alleging that Skype has repudiated the license agreement, infringed Joltid’s copyright and misused confidential information.

If Joltid wins on copyright infringement, Skype users downloaded the software more than 1.5 billion times. Is Joltid the new RIAA? 

On the basis of, among other things, the parties’ mutual dealings since the execution of the license agreement, Skype asked the English High Court for declaratory relief, including findings that Skype is not in breach of the license agreement, that Joltid’s notice of breach and subsequent notice of termination are invalid, and that Joltid has certain indemnity obligations in relation to the U.S. patent proceedings.

"Dear Judge, shut up Joltid."

Trial is currently scheduled for June 2010.

A deadline!

Although Skype is confident of its legal position, as with any litigation, there is the possibility of an adverse result if the matter is not resolved through negotiation.

It's to Skype's advantage to strike a deal with Joltid as soon as possible. Joltid, however, may enjoy a better bargaining position the closer they get to the court date.

Skype has begun to develop alternative software to that licensed through Joltid.

When did this project begin? While the Joltid founders were still running Skype for eBay? Five minutes after the founders left? When Joltid claimed breach?

Skype can improve their bargaining position by replacing the Joltid p2p engine. They could buy the technology from Bluemoon.

This is an opportunity to improve on the original p2p engine. Skype could build a p2p engine that:

• scales faster and more reliably,
• crosses more residential and enterprise firewalls,
• works at low power on wireless networks,
• survives hostile conditions including blocking,
• updates status and presence more quickly,
• recovers more quickly from disruptions in the p2p fabric,
• efficiently creates creates supernodes and relays.

Skype's new CTO has one year to design, test, and deploy a new p2p engine assuming they started construction in 2009q2 (would eBay have reported it if they'd started sooner?). That's a tight deadline when p2p isn't at the center of your expertise.

However, such software development may not be successful, may result in loss of functionality or customers even if successful, and will in any event be expensive.

No pressure.

If Skype was to lose the right to use the Joltid software as the result of the litigation, and if alternative software was not available, Skype would be severely and adversely affected and the continued operation of Skype’s business as currently conducted would likely not be possible.

Where's that countdown clock? 305 days to go.

See also:

• Skype: p2p Explained
• Joltid: p2p networking

Hat tip to the Skype 5.x chat room.

tags: skype, joltid, p2p, uk, litigation, lawsuit, suit

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype store sells third-party software

Four companies now sell their software in the US and UK Skype stores. All are Skype Certified and three have been Skype partners for years. Skype operates stores for many markets. 13 Skype "Extras" are available in all thirty of Skype's English language stores (Australia, Belarus, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines,  Qatar, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, UAE, United Kingdom, United States).

Many of these stores aren't localized beyond currency and payment, operating in English instead of Eesti, Chinese, and the other languages people use. For now, UK and US customers are shopping in Euros instead of Pounds or dollars. US customers also pay UK value added taxes.

This is a bare bones start, but an important one. Skype is preparing to build a platform for programmers. An "app store" helps partners make money from their investment in your platform.

The "extras" department isn't seeing much traffic yet according to publishers. When it does, this distribution channel could encourage hundreds of existing developers to invest in Skype certification.

The first products in the store:

Company	Product	Description	Price
Cucku	Cucku Backup	Free remote backup to friends, family or a second PC.	Freeware
Scendix Software	Pamela Call Recorder	Pamela Call Recorder, play cool sounds and auto Chat Reply.	€17.79 incl. VAT
Scendix Software	Pamela for Skype - Business Edition	Includes easy integration with MS Outlook as well as call recording and other great features.	€29.95 plus VAT
Scendix Software	Pamela for Skype - Professional Edition	Pamela Professional allows you to record Skype calls of any duration as well other great features.	€19.95 plus VAT
Scendix Software	Pamela for Skype - Standard Edition	Pamela allows you to record Skype calls.	€12.95 plus VAT
Scendix Software	Pamela mcePhone for Skype	mcePhone for Skype allows you to seamlessly integrate Skype and Pamela in Windows Media Center 2005 and Vista.	€17.79 incl. VAT
Scendix Software	Pamela Rich Mood Editor	Create cool HTML formatted Skype Mood Messages	Freeware
Scendix Software	PamFax for Skype (Mac)	Send faxes to any fax number in the world.	FREE (pay per page)
PrettyMay Team	PrettyMay Call Center for Skype - Standard version	Skype PBX Phone System for Small Business.	$200 incl. VAT
PrettyMay Team	PrettyMay Call Recorder for Skype - Basic version	Record Skype calls FREE within 15 minutes.	Freeware
PrettyMay Team	PrettyMay Call Recorder for Skype - Business version	Record Skype Calls, Store voicemails, auto answering.	$29.95 incl. VAT
PrettyMay Team	PrettyMay Call Recorder for Skype - Pro version	Record Skype Calls, Store voicemails, auto answering.	$24.95 incl. VAT
Netralia Pty Ltd	Skylook - make more of MS Outlook with Skype	Recording contacts office outlook calling.	€99.95 incl. VAT

CORRECTION: The Pamela and PamFax software products are from Scendix Software, not PamConsult, their professional service firm.

tags: skype, devrels, store, pamconsult, pamela, pamfax, prettymay, netralia, skylook, cucku

Call me at +1-510-455-4384, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Should Skype clients be Wave containers?

Last week Google announced Wave, a pre-alpha browser application project. The experience is like instant messaging but with the extensibility and variety you might find in facebook or OpenSocial applications. Wave can be highly decentralized, like email, with Wave servers hosted by any person or company that cares to. Wave clients run in browsers. (Good to know: Skype desktop clients have tiny browsers inside.)

Extensibility makes a container useful in more ways. Like adding new tools to your Swiss Army knife or multitool. Apps could change what goes on inside the chat. We will be able to combine them in interesting ways. To surround chat with useful information about people. To enrich ways we discover people to talk with, to initiate conversations, to conduct those conversations using the right tools for that conversation, and to use the history of those conversations meaningfully.

Wave solves several Skype problems:

1. One size doesn't fit all. People are diverse. So are the ways we want to talk. Skype is mastering the middle ground, ignoring the long tail of experience demand.
2. Skype is closed. Promoting the Skype namespace so non-Skype users can chat with Skypers should increase demand for access to Skype services. New blood to boost the number of people in the Skype network. 
3. Skype isn't developer-bait. Skype might siphon off Wave talent. Opening up Skype to developers gives them immediate access to a world market, a great opportunity to bring them in to the Skype developer program. Done well, you might do without giving up control of Skype's added value.
4. Skype doesn't run in browsers. Waving the Skype desktop client could lead to a browser-based rich Internet application, a Skype that runs in a browser without a 20MB download.

The flip side is opportunity:

1. Skype meets more needs (lock-in in more markets).
2. Skype attracts new customers (faster word of mouth).
3. Skype attracts developers (lighter platform, bigger market).
4. Skype runs everywhere (not just in Skype clients).

What would you like to see Skype become?

tags: skype, google, wave, ebay, design, im, chat, voip, voim

Call me at +1-510-455-4384, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Why a Skype platform can lead to happiness

Here's a 2004 TED talk by Malcolm Gladwell about the importance of variability in product design.

He concludes with four points.

There's a disconnect between what people say they want when you ask them (in focus groups, for example) and what they really want and do. We all say we like dark, rich, roasted coffee but many of us like weak, creamy coffee.

Horizontal segmentation can reveal that there are many variations of a product, each with their own appeal to the many variations among people. I like chunky tomato sauce, you like spicy. Until you reveal and test the clusters across a zillion dimensions, you'll never know how you should extend your product family.

While chefs have an idea that there is one right way to make a particular dish, they are wrong. The Platonic Ideal of a product misses that everyone in that restaurant has a different experience, different tastes, and that the chef's perfection of poached halibut will only produce an "average" happiness.

By searching for human variability and embracing human diversity, we'll find a truer path to true happiness.

On to Skype.

Talk is a fundamental human activity and it's tough to create access to the Skype network from everywhere people talk (or would talk if they could).

So Skype gives us one Skype. It's squeezed into different shapes to adapt to different devices and operating systems, but it's the same Skype.

This is not enough. Skype knows it.

Skype is resource constrained. Everything they have is going into creating access to Skype dialtone. There is no way they can create 20 variations of Skype for Windows to serve different market segments. Let alone the thousands of variations by which people meet, engage, interact, play, learn, discover, fight, love, and experience each other.

So Skype needs a multiplier.

A multiplier that lets thousands of teams of developers fashion a Skype that meets their way of talking and being social.

We call that platforming. Giving a solid foundation, a platform, on which others can build.

Skype has several weak programming platforms now, all of them under review. The review is good.

Because for as big as Skype's market is now, it can be orders of magnitude larger. And Skype doesn't have the time or people or money to make Skypes for all those contexts.

Skype for WoW.

Skype for First Responders.

Skype for Shoppers.

Skype for Stock Brokers.

Skype for Grandparents.

Skype for the Hypersocial.

Skype for Twitterers.

Skype for Getting Things Done.

Skype for Lovers.

Skype for Musicians. (I met a company that has this as a business plan)

Skype for Projects.

Skype for Poken.

Skype for Sales.

Skype for Lawyers.

Skype for eBay Power Sellers.

Skype for Product Managers.

Skype for Hello Kitty.

Skype for IMDB and other movie lovers.

Skype for Manchester United.

And a thousand more.

Each with their own social and communication patterns, their own feature priorities, different measures of success, integration with different other systems, and support requirements.

What would they have in common? An underlying brand ("Skype inside"), one login, backup, in-network connection to other Skype users, encryption, contact lists, history.

And an ecosystem eager to pour a liquid Skype into the forms that make each community, each niche, each segment, each person very very happy. 

tags: skype, platforming, design, technology, malcolmgladwell, spaghetti, tedtalks, happiness

Call me at +1-510-455-4384, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Download Gladwell's talk

• Audio to desktop (MP3)
• Audio to iTunes (MP3)
• Video to desktop (Zipped MP4)
• Video to iTunes (MP4)
• Watch this talk as high-res video (MP4)