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SAN FRANCISCO: MySpace and Skype announced Tuesday
they are meshing social networking with Internet telephony, creating
the largest voice-connected online community on Earth.
The partnership comes as MySpace
rival Facebook gains ground and Internet telephony pioneer Skype
struggles for ways to profit from the technology.
Skype will craft its voice over
Internet protocol (VoIP) into MySpace instant messaging software
worldwide by December, letting website members easily call each
other’s computers free of charge.
MySpace says it has 110 million
active monthly users and that 220 million people have Skype
accounts.
Approximately 25 million MySpace
members use its instant messaging service.
MySpace members will be able to
link profiles, photos and animated online personae, referred to as
“avatars,” to the Skype feature.
“Internet calling is the
natural next step for how our members communicate with each
other,” said MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe.
The MySpace IM with Skype service
will be available to website members in all countries it serves,
except Japan, China and Taiwan due to constraints from existing
deals.
MySpace users will have the
option of using for-fee premium Skype services such as call
forwarding, voice mail, and calling from computers to landlines or
mobile telephones.
“Wherever people are hanging
out on the Internet they should be able to use Skype,” Skype
director of business development Scott Miller told AFP.
“MySpace is a great hangout so
it is a great way to get Skype to people hanging out on MySpace.”
Alliance talks date back to
before California-based eBay bought Skype and New York-based News
Corporation acquired MySpace, according to Smith.
Engineers from the companies
began work on the project in July after “all the pieces came
together,” according to Kyle Brinkman, vice-president of product
development at MySpace.
“I think it shows our chops a
little as far as technology, not to brag, which helps us with our
foothold in Silicon Valley,” Brinkman told AFP.
Los Angeles-based MySpace opened
an office in San Francisco this week to tap into Silicon Valley
engineering talent and creativity.
The Skype service built into
MySpace will be a test, or beta, version. It will be part of instant
messaging software downloaded by new users and be available as an
upgrade to existing MySpace IM users.
“The partnership will create
the world’s largest VoIP community,” Smith said.
“It is a natural fit. MySpace
has been the place to communicate on Internet while Skype has been
the way.”
Despite its global popularity,
Internet telephony has not become a gold mine for Skype.
Popular online auction firm eBay,
which bought Skype two years ago for $2.6 billion, attested to that
fact early in October when it devalued the once-darling firm,
knocking $1.43 billion off its value.
Analysts interviewed by AFP
wondered how Skype can convert its extraordinary global popularity
into hard cash and corporate revenue.
Skype fans as far away as China
download software that enables them to make telephone calls from one
computer to another anywhere in the world for free.
A problem for the company has
been that few of those fans use additional for-fee services.
People also prefer combination
telephone, Internet, cable television deals offered by major
telecommunications companies to relying on Internet telephony firms
for long-distance calling, according to iSuppli analyst Steve Rego.
The original plan of eBay was to
integrate Skype into its online auctions so, for example, sellers
and buyers could call each other instantly using their computers.
--AFP
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