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Yahoo! and eBay announced months ago that Yahoo! would be supplying targeted advertisements throughout the eBay auction network. This week, eBay turned to Yahoo!'s largest competitor to team up for point-to-point Internet calling from eBay auctions direct to customers. Part of what makes eBay culturally different from a face-to-face auction is that both buyer and seller remain mostly anonymous. Will the potential to click an icon on an auction page to speak directly with a buyer or seller destroy a little of that culture?
This is an issue that's been talked about very little with all the eBay partnership hubbub recently -- but it's a big one from my perspective. Cultural norms and customs across Internet communication boundaries and means are a little different these days. We all web surf in relatively obscurity (at least we think we do, which is important), and it's odd to me that eBay's Skype Voice-over-IP product and Google's Talk IM program will make customers start talking to each other. Voice is one thing -- but even IM is the same. We want to IM with friends and family (and business associates) -- but how about when a strange person IMs you about an eBay auction? Is the eBayer ready for this?
So, I am a little skeptical of the whole "pay per call" situation being drilled by some of the web's largest properties. I hope I'm wrong on this one, as opening up communication across global lines can probably do nothing but help civilized individuals (and companies to individuals) communicate better and prevent misunderstandings. I'm just not sure the world is ready for a change like that -- at least now.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-30-2006 @ 12:10PM
Tracy Riggs said...
I think eBay made a great move teaming up with Google. People want to communicate with each other. If I am buying a big ticket item on eBay it helps if I can call that person or company directly, or they can call me back. Big companies will have people standing by to answer the phone or phones. (They are in the process of hiring phone consultants as I write)
It is much easier to do business that way and possibly avoid many mistakes. EBay and Google will do great things together from now on. Skype will play a huge role down the road. eBay is no longer a little Ma-and Pa operation out of a garage. Millions of big companies will sell on eBay. And they will appreciate the phone service to communicate with their customers.
8-30-2006 @ 4:46PM
Ann Lamber said...
A different form of communicating vs. chit-chat, from a software-technology point, Skype-Google technology interoperability alliance is design for instant P to P by click to call using Skype VOIP bundle into Google toolbar.
Let’s say Hyatt Hotels ads display on a banner on a Google ad, using Skype that consumer can utilize the instance link for further completing their query, rather than having to manual dial the number. This is one brilliant aspect for Skype in from of telecommunicating at a low cost to the consumer-merchants.
Skype is differ from most VOIP company today, in part of its superior capabilities to bundle with entities like Google & Yahoo portals.
This new way on telecommunicating is not a form of replacing the traditional land line phone system, rather a cost effective way via the internet migration.
8-31-2006 @ 12:45AM
Dimes said...
I question how successful eBay will be at monetizing a proprietary, closed VOIP system in the face of competition from cable MSO's that are starting to aggressively promote bundled TV/internet/phone packages to their customers.
eBay has an impediment with skype that the cable companies don't share. Unlike Time-Warner or Comcast or Cablevision, skype runs on peer-to-peer system architecture that relies on the bandwidth of its customers in order to work. The more bandwidth you have, the more of your bandwidth it wants to use.
That's why corporations want nothing to do with skype, and ban their employees from installing it on work PC's. It's to protect their high-speed servers from being usurped to act as relays for skype's phone traffic.
Home PC's can suddenly slow to a crawl when skype taps into their CPU's to borrow their processing power, yet I'd venture to say that the vast majority of skype customers have no idea that skype piggybacks on their systems to connect calls.
What happens if a significant number of users decline to allow their PC's to be used to relay calls, or simply decide that they don't want a VOIP service that degrades their system performance?
The tech press has been on to this issue for months: http://tinyurl.com/d7eqn
And in other less than glowing news, eBay is already being criticized for neglecting the skype developer community, which doesn't exactly bode well for product innovation.
http://tinyurl.com/jft66
8-31-2006 @ 8:06AM
Brian said...
Excellent points, Dimes. I know that Skype, for all its popularity, *may* have future issues unlike most SIP-based VoIP clients out there for all the reasons you state. Take open-standards based Gizmo Project -- it has none of the issues like Skype does, which could give it an advantage among other things.
A good explanation of this can be found at Bob Cringely's blog here:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060713.html
Cheers, Brian
9-01-2006 @ 4:44AM
Luke Skypetalker said...
This just about sums things up:
Why Ebay Will Die:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34077
9-22-2006 @ 2:08PM
dimes said...
How embarrassing for eBay. The state university in its own hometown plans to ban skype to keep it far away from its servers.
It will be interesting to see whether eBay is able to convince them that it's a good idea to allow skype to tap into their processing power.
(As a CA resident whose taxes help support the state university system, where do I cast my vote for "Oh, hell, no!")
http://tinyurl.com/qlovh