Skype Developers Conference

You can't go everywhere and you can't be everywhere so I'm not attending the Skype Developer's Conference this week as much as I would like to. Fortunately Jim Courtney of Skype Journal will be there and I'm sure he'll be providing excellent, man on the street, like reporting.

Skype is at a crossroads. They are beyond an early adopter application, and in some ways are showing signs of being a mature market brand. Their recent offerings (Skype ToGO, Skype Pro) are confusing to many and in someways overlapping. What's more, ambivalence from vocal early adopters and fans is setting in. If the Ken Camps, Ted Wallingfords and Alec Saunders of the world are at a point were Skype has lost its relevance (I'm partially there too) then the rest of the user base won't be far behind.

Skype needs to use the Developer's Conference to go beyond the "programmers" and leverage the eBay Developers who are writing "make it easy for consumers" not simply talk to VoIP applications folks who will be on the bleeding edge.