Mark Hopkins, Dave Vellante and John Furrier discuss Microsoft's acquisition of Skype at SAP SAPphire 2011.
Mark Hopkins, the resident XBOX expert, Dave Vellante and John Furrier sit down at SAP SAPphire 2011 to talk about Microsoft's acquisition of Skype and what this means for both companies. Quickly delving right into things, the guys point out that people don't really identify Microsoft with the XBOX, where the XBOX is cool and the must-have gaming system for an entire generation of players, the company behind it is lacking in that "must have" coolness factor. A lot of people are late to the game creating an interesting situation where the gamers see the high value in a Skype/Microsoft partnership but the pundits scratching their heads in confusion as to what exactly the value of the acquisition is.
There's a stigma attached to Microsoft in the eyes of the pundits who just assume that Microsoft will screw it up, and while Hopkins think's "there's a potential for Microsoft to screw this up, because they have a track record of sometimes screwing up acquisitions and screwing up strategy, but on the other hand, I don't think the acquisition would have been done, would have the synergy with any of the other potential suitors that are out there," such a Google which has screwed up their VoIP acquisition, and ended up shutting it down in favor of Google Voice, that uses a lot of the same technology but at the same time shutting out potential SIP users. Acquisitions don't always start out making financial sense; for instance YouTube, while taken over by Google, was still not doing well in the earnings reports. One of the problems is there is no way to monetize the content along with maximizing the problem of big data.
Vellante asks Hopkins why Microsoft bought Skype, to which he says, "they have some good enterprise VoIP... and so using a proven technology like Skype [with almost one billion users] and you put those two big brands together, Skype in America has a little bit of a stigma attached, [when it comes to business] but if you ask anyone, they have a Skype handle." For Microsoft, acquiring Skype is a safe move, giving them access to hundreds of millions of users without having to spend a significant amount on R&D. While there is always the potential for Microsoft to "screw it up," the likelihood that they will in this instance is much less.
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Mark Hopkins - SAP Sapphire 2011 - theCUBE
Mark Hopkins, Dave Vellante and John Furrier discuss Microsoft's acquisition of Skype at SAP SAPphire 2011.
Mark Hopkins, the resident XBOX expert, Dave Vellante and John Furrier sit down at SAP SAPphire 2011 to talk about Microsoft's acquisition of Skype and what this means for both companies. Quickly delving right into things, the guys point out that people don't really identify Microsoft with the XBOX, where the XBOX is cool and the must-have gaming system for an entire generation of players, the company behind it is lacking in that "must have" coolness factor. A lot of people are late to the game creating an interesting situation where the gamers see the high value in a Skype/Microsoft partnership but the pundits scratching their heads in confusion as to what exactly the value of the acquisition is.
There's a stigma attached to Microsoft in the eyes of the pundits who just assume that Microsoft will screw it up, and while Hopkins think's "there's a potential for Microsoft to screw this up, because they have a track record of sometimes screwing up acquisitions and screwing up strategy, but on the other hand, I don't think the acquisition would have been done, would have the synergy with any of the other potential suitors that are out there," such a Google which has screwed up their VoIP acquisition, and ended up shutting it down in favor of Google Voice, that uses a lot of the same technology but at the same time shutting out potential SIP users. Acquisitions don't always start out making financial sense; for instance YouTube, while taken over by Google, was still not doing well in the earnings reports. One of the problems is there is no way to monetize the content along with maximizing the problem of big data.
Vellante asks Hopkins why Microsoft bought Skype, to which he says, "they have some good enterprise VoIP... and so using a proven technology like Skype [with almost one billion users] and you put those two big brands together, Skype in America has a little bit of a stigma attached, [when it comes to business] but if you ask anyone, they have a Skype handle." For Microsoft, acquiring Skype is a safe move, giving them access to hundreds of millions of users without having to spend a significant amount on R&D. While there is always the potential for Microsoft to "screw it up," the likelihood that they will in this instance is much less.
