case study paul dawson. agenda business model background core technology revenue stream performance...
TRANSCRIPT
Case Study
Paul Dawson
Agenda
Business Model Background Core Technology Revenue Stream Performance Competitive Advantage & Marketing Competition Growth Strategy Questions
Business Model
Service that allows for calling through the internet.
B2C Pure Digital Model for Core Service
Background
Founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.
Goal was global change in the way calls are made
Core Technology
VoIP– First transmissions in 1973– Internet phone software offered to the public by
Vocaltec in 1995– Broadband infrastructure not available or widely used at that time
• Peer-to-Peer– Utilized by other file sharing services– Software combination allowed for clear, reliable
calling
Revenue Stream
Freemium– SkypeIn– SkypeOut – SkypePlus
Hardware– Webcams– Headsets
Performance
Nine million registered users in the first year Over one billion registered users in 2013 280 million active daily users on average Two billion call minutes per day on average Acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion in 2011
Users
Competitive Advantage and Marketing
Superior call quality– Sophisticated routing– Quality Servers
Marketing Strategy– Customers refer the service to their friends– Metcalfe’s law of network value
Competition
Disruptive Technology– As of September 2013 telecommunications operators were
losing roughly $100 million per day in revenue due to Skype and other similar services.
Traditional phone providers have reduced fees and bundled phone service with cable and internet.
Google Voice offers free VoIP to non VoIP calling for US inbound calling
Market Share
Growth Strategy
In 2011 Skype partnered with Comcast to allow subscribers to do videoconferencing through their Television sets.
In 2013 Skype offers free video messaging service for Windows and Mac OS, iOS, Android and BlackBerry
Question 1
Skype’s success can be attributed mainly to:
a. Aggressive Marketing
b. Superior call quality
c. Being the first provider of VoIP calling
d. Competitive pricing
Question 2
Skype’s core business model is best described as:
a. Bricks and clicks
b. Brick and mortar
c. Cloud computing
d. Pure digital
Question 3
Skype benefits from which law?
a. Network value
b. Law of attraction
c. Moore’s law
d. 5 second rule
References
http://gigaom.com/2011/06/13/comcast-skype-video-chat/ http://www.emory.edu/BUSINESS/readings/skype/eBay-Skype.pdf http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/17/skype-video-messaging-launches-free-
unlimited/ http://www.inferse.com/8940/microsoft-skype-serious-threat-telephone-operator
s/ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/technology/companies/02ebay.html?
scp=8&sq=silver+lake++skype&st=nyt&_r=0 http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Metcalfe_s_law.html http://www.techbusiness.me/files1/skype.case.pdf http://www.voipinsights.com/voip_history.html http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/
SB10001424052748703730804576314854222820260?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052748703730804576314854222820260.html