Who cares how many downloads Skype has?
Skibare is making a big deal about how many downloads Skype is getting and how it should be making the telcos nervous. While that does probably translate into a lot of people actually trying Skype, how many of them are really using it all the time? I’ve downloaded the Skype application two or three times, and I’ve used it maybe two or three times tops.
Now if 56 million downloads translates to 56 million people actually using Skype for a significant portion of their communications, then the telcos might get a little nervous, but only a little. I’d argue that the number of real people using Skype at least a couple of times a week to make voice calls is a couple million tops.
My question is: how many of those two million or so users are making calls via SkypeOut? Sure, I bought $10 worth of SkypeOut minutes for testing, but I have so many more convenient ways of making PSTN calls for less than Skype, why would I want to bother with Skype?
Other than the fact that Skype can find its way through firewalls and NAT devices better than many things out there, I just don’t see what the big deal about Skype is. And I don’t see where Skype is going to make money at this.
I still think that Skype must open itself up a bit more or perish.
