Is Skype going the same way as News Corp?

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When Ebay took on Skype four years a go they had big plans to revolutionize their marketplace platform, plans which never really took off. The idea was to provide video trading to users, allowing them to bargain and negotiate more openly. In amongst the finer detail of these outlines, close comparisons with the aforementioned News Corp can not be ignored.

Although they probably wouldn't admit it, the ultimate ambition of the project was to rake in endless advertising money through "pay-per-call" services which could see advertisers paying between $2 and $12 per telephone call each time someone clicked on their link." This business model (relying on advertising) is all too close to the reason why Rupert Murdock has taken the bold decision to start charging for online content.

The new investors in the online communication service can only have parallel ambitions (you don't pay $1.9 billion for something unless you plan to make a lot of money). With 481 million registered users the potential is endless. But, as Ebay have shown, without a successful way to monetize, the investment is doomed to failure. Although, of course, there may be differing plans in the minds of the investors, I don't think it'll be too long before charges start creeping into the Skype network somewhere along the line.

Murdock has cushioned the blow for everyone else thinking along the same lines and once a trend has started, it's not to long before everybody jumps on the bandwagon. With their staggering number of users, Skype's demands can afford to be small, but the ring fence has been hurdled, and I suspect it's only a matter of time before there's no ring fence at all.