Whoosh! Skype passes the 15 million online user milestone
In what I promise will be the last blog post for today, I bring you the news that we've just passed another Skype milestone.
At approximately 1542 GMT, there were over 15 million Skype users online - a new record.
After an exciting week at CES, the announcement of a new Mac beta and improvements to call quality across the board, as well as new lite versions of Skype for mobile devices, it's looking like 2009 is going to be a good one. Welcome aboard 
callharn commented Thursday, Jan 22
Congratulation to skype!!!
I would also add that it would be wonderful to have Taiwan mobile option added to the Unlimited World subscription 
(please please plase make it happen!)
ingerbrugregory commented Thursday, Jan 22
I feel privileged to have been one of the 15 million users on Skype, one of the most amazing tools of communication ever. Thank you for providing this free service! I keep in contact with my sister in Norway every day as she battles cancer. Skype has truely been a lifeline. Thank you. Tusen Takk.
joel.angiolillo commented Wednesday, Jan 28
helpful feedback I hope -- yes, Skype does have X million customers, but Skype is having trouble getting the paid customers. (See, for example, article below.) I was a paying customer, but my (have to pay upfront) credits expired because I didn't place a call in a certain amount of time. (why?) The business model may work for a lot of people, but it doesn't for me, and apparently not enough other people. You have to admit. It is rather unique.
Example article:
Skype's Sales Not Rising As Expected
Reinhardt Krause
725 words
Wed Jan 28, 12:00 AM ET
Investor's Business Daily
The global recession is taking a toll on Skype, the eBay (EBAY)-owned pioneer in Internet calling services. While Skype continues to sign up millions of free users of its Internet calling service, it's getting harder for eBay's unit to find paying ones. For the fourth quarter, Skype last week reported revenue of $145 million. That's up 26% from the year-earlier period but only 1.3% from the previous quarter. Skype's sequential revenue growth slid all year, from 9.5% in the first quarter of 2008, to 8% in the June quarter and 5% in the September quarter.
joel.angiolillo commented Wednesday, Jan 28
I have to comment on my own post: I just realized that having one's credits expire because they aren't used in a certain time period is not unique to Skype. Cell phone companies often do the same thing with "minutes." If you don't use your minutes they "expire." Somewhat different concept (because you get new minutes each month), but similar.
learntoday7 commented Thursday, Jan 29
Well, I have been using skype for 2 years now and it's very helpful in my business. Thanks to skype! Arizona direct mail
vincent.dumas commented Friday, Jan 30
Thank you for your exceptional service and long live skype.
Vince
My Wish: Skype-In in Canada, and video conferencing skype on my Android.
fritz-ost commented Friday, Jan 30
Hello, my company recently disabled skype on my business laptop for security reasons. Have you ever thought about an online version?