Today, the Internet pipes reverberated with thought-provoking posts from Voxeo’s Dan York and Skype Journal’s Phil Wolff. York’s post was triggered by an asynchronous exchange between eComm organizer Lee Dryburgh and telecommunications entrepreneur Shidan Gouran regarding Skype’s likelihood of supporting SIP.
eBay issued a letter to its customers saying that it was removing the Skype-based click-to-chat or click-to-talk buttons from their listings, effective June 10. EBay’s management cites “limited buyer and seller usage”. But it is more likely that the company, which derives significant revenue by taking a percentage of the value of transactions carried out through its resources, had no incentive to encourage interactions, and the subsequent transactions, to be carried out over a synchronous voice or text-chat conversations.