From now on, the users of the famous social networking site
MySpace.com will be able to communicate through voice, thanks to the new
partnership between Skype and MySpace.
Today MySpace unveiled MySpaceIM with Skype, a hybrid between
MySpace IM client and Skype.
The partnership will also enable users to link their MySpace
profiles and photos or avatars to their accounts on Skype. Both products will
be available to users starting in November.
According to MySpace, for the moment MySpace IM client has
an installed based of 25 million users. Still MySpace has 110 million users,
while Skype is used by 220 million users. That means that soon enough MySpaceIM
can become one of the main players in the IM market, which currently is
dominated by AIM and Yahoo Messenger.
MySpaceIM with Skype will be available in 20 countries where
MySpace has localized communities and does not require MySpace users to
download any additional Skype software.
“MySpaceIM with Skype is a truly groundbreaking product
integration and partnership,” said Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of
MySpace. “Skype has the leading technology in Internet voice communications and
an enormous international user base that we’re thrilled to connect with our
existing community. Our network has no geographical boundaries—Internet calling
is the natural next step for how our members communicate with each other.”
In addition to free, high-quality Skype calling, MySpaceIM
with Skype will also allow the users of the MySpace network to optionally
select Skype’s premium fee-based products, including: SkypeOut, SkypeIn, Voicemail
and Call forwarding.
MySpaceIM with Skype takes advantage of the many personal
privacy settings available to users throughout the MySpace network. Users who
have a MySpace profile set to “private” can not receive a Skype call from
someone who is not on their friends list. Users can also choose to allow only
those individuals they have affirmatively added to their Skype personal contact
list to call them.
The partnership with MySpace could be a very good news for
Skype after earlier this month eBay Inc. revealed in an SEC filing that it will
take $1.4 billion in charges related to the calling service in the third
quarter, of which $530 million is an "earn out settlement" that will
satisfy eBay's obligations under the purchase agreement.
eBay Inc. acquired Skype for a $2.6 billion price tag in 2005. Over the last
quarter, Skype's revenues of $90 million accounted for only 5 percent of eBay's
total revenues. Skype charges $29.95 for a year's worth of SkypeOut calls,
which allows users to make unlimited long-distance calls to any phone number in
the US and Canada.
In mid-August this year, a mix of planned and unplanned outages and downtime
left many users unable to log on to the service to make phone calls, for a
total of around 30 hours.
