Wed Nov 8, 2006. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Web telephone-calling company Skype on Wednesday unveiled new software with automatic click-to-call features designed to make shopping easier and that also encourages users to join group conversations.<---A man uses a Skype internet phone in a 2005 photo.
Skype on Wednesday unveiled new software with automatic click-to-call features designed to make shopping easier and that also encourages users to join group conversations. REUTERS/Richard Chung
Skype Chief Executive Niklas Zennstrom said in an interview that features in the new Skype 3.0 -- available in a public test version starting on Wednesday -- can help the company move beyond its dependence on communications revenue."You are also going to see new services which are more targeted to e-commerce," Zennstrom said.
The company has said it expects $195 million in revenue, up 225 percent from $60 million it took in 2005.
Skype-calling software allows users to place free phone calls to other Skype users on computers. It also offers cut-rate prices for calls to conventional landline or mobile phone users from either computers or a new generation of Skype-ready phones now available worldwide.
Click-to-call allows calls to be to be placed the moment a Skype user clicks on a phone number listed on any Web page.
The promise of such features for use in Web-based customer service or closing sales was a big selling point that online auctioneer eBay Inc. had highlighted when it acquired Skype a year ago in a deal worth more than $4 billion.
Skype 3.0 automates this process by allowing users with only one click to make ordinary phone calls from Web pages. Continued...
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
