In a story that started within USA Today that was syndicated by parent Gannet News Service it seems the reviewers experience with Skype was less than desirable. What was interesting is they chose to compare AT&T's CallVantage to it. saying:
Alas, Skype is flawed compared with other VoIP options, even though they cost more. For example, AT&T's CallVantage has proved to be extremely reliable. It's well worth the current price of $30 per month. You can use any ordinary handset to make or receive a call. And CallVantage includes voice mail, Web call logs and other goodies.
Looking at it with editorial eyes, this is the kind of coverage AT&T has to love. USA TODAY is mass market, news mcnuggets. The readers are mobile, affluent and widely diverse. They also are more tech savvy, more male than female and hit people who are on the road with free distribution in hotels and on airplanes. That's a captive audience.
imho, the popular media cant really grok what
skype's real paradigm is all about, just as
they still don't grok free software.
skype takes peer-to-peer comms up a notch or
two. what i like to think of as peer-to-peer
voice (ppv).
umodzi.
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Posted by: winango umodzi | November 01, 2004 at 07:28 AM
Most newspapers have generally given Skype poor to decent remarks. I'm a fan of Skype and a Voip lover, but I can understand their opinions. Actually, they probably reflect a good perspective, since most newspaper writers aren't embedded in the Voip technology world as we are.
Compared to any good softclient app, or P2P app such as Popular Telephony (PT), Skype is actually a very poor case for real Voip technology. I can count their features on just the two of my hands, when PT and most other products can have hundreds of features.
However, Skype has met a need for more people than any other Voip product to-date. Really, Skype is a marketing success more than anything else.
Another company had a similar start and did quite well - Microsoft. They didn't have the best technology on earth, but it ended up in most hands.
Posted by: Rick | October 27, 2004 at 02:31 PM