5 ms·
Not fair. I pay my operator a monthly fee for mobile data (10 € for unlimited 384 kb/s including two SIMs / devices, to be exact). Skype pays for their incoming
by Yaggo 16y ago
Not fair. I pay my operator a monthly fee for mobile data (10 € for unlimited 384 kb/s including two SIMs / devices, to be exact). Skype pays for their incoming/outgoing data – it doesn't cost extra for them whether the data is originated from mobile network or <any-type> network. Skype is simply not justified to charge extra based on client's connection type, not even if I used Iridium network to route my bytes to them. Maybe Skype has grown big enough to behave as asshole and they know it.
- sjs 16y agoSkype-to-skype is cool but when you're tethered to a computer and internet connection it clearly has limited to value to most people. Now that phones that run apps and have internet connections are popular the game is changed entirely. They had to give it away for free before because it wasn't as useful. When you can use this on the go it becomes much more useful and they will see many more people using it. When things change that drastically sometimes you have to re-evaluate your business model.
- Yaggo 16y agoThen moneytize transparently, i.e. based on true costs. Charging for skype-to-skype calls is fine as long as clients are treated equally whether they were using dial-up, wifi, satellite or avian carriers. The type of client's connection is as unrelated as the color of his/her socks.
- hartror 16y agoPeople always seem to think that things are priced according to the cost to the supplier, that is wrong. Goods and services are priced to what the consumer will pay for them. Skype are providing a service and people are (they hope) willing to pay for the convenience of having it on their phone. Welcome to the free market.
- Super_Jambo 16y agoThings in efficient markets ARE priced according to the cost of the supplier. But most markets are not efficient. This is not the fault of the customer.
- anamax 16y ago> Things in efficient markets ARE priced according to the cost of the supplier. Not if you're selling to humans. Humans value things other than price and features. There are goods that will only sell if they cost considerably more than the cost of production. The efficient market hypothesis may be true, but only if you consider all costs and benefits and even then, the value of the benefits is not static and you need to account for other things that people might do with their money.
- philwelch 16y agoYou're both wrong--and rehashing an old argument that got resolved a long time ago. Goods and services are priced based on both the supply side and the demand side, specifically upon the intersection of the supply and demand curve.
- qq66 16y agoNot in a monopolistic environment, which due to Skype's strong network effect it may effectively be. The concept of a demand curve depends on multiple suppliers with different reservation prices.