It seems that the rumours have been true. Ebay is buying Skype. Various reports have put the purchase price around $4.1 billion. The question is why and why so much?
Various reasons have been bandied about - is there some synergy? Live auctions? Communications between buyers and sellers? Or is Ebay just spending some money to get into the VoIP game?
And why so much for a company with marginal technology and a tired strategy (give away your product in the hope that somehow you will find a way to make money)? The whole VoIP computer to computer thing has been tried before even with selling "extras" like connecting to real phones -- all with miserable failure.
It seems like a pre bubble strategy in a post bubble world.
