The big, blue, all powerful social networking site has announced that it intends to enter the world of Voip technology in an attempt to de-throne market leaders Skype by offering users a more flexible and improved free platform.
The world of Voip has been synonymous with Skype ever since it was first released over 10 years ago. Challengers to Skype's dominance have come and fallen by the way-side in their droves, from MSN to Microsft, but none have been able to compete with their business model of free worldwide Voip calls.
Facebook is rapidly approaching the 1 billion users mark, half of whom already use their mobile phones to connect to the social platform on a regular basis. For the majority of users, it is already the place of choice to communicate with friends and family, and as such a Voip service seems like an obvious natural progression.
A platform which, for most of its users, is already the primary place to interact and connect with others online. It also has a host of other advantages too, such as a phonebook and a host of most user-friendly features, such as pictures and videos.
It is indeed very plausible that Facebook will, in a short space of time, be able to match and surpass Skype's revenues, considering that Skype's premium model has already proven itself to be significantly more profitable per user than Facebook's advertising model.
And when i say far more profitable, i really mean it. Figures show that Facebook presently generates, on average, less than $10 per user per year in revenue. Compare this to Skype's advertising model which results in users paying an average of $100 per annum, and the difference is immense.
But all of this speculation and potential is nothing more than hear-say at the present time, and there is a lot of ground to be made up before any accurate assumptions can be made. Added to that the fact that Skype now have the full power and backing of Microsoft, and the stage is set for what maybe the most hotly fought telecommunications battle in living memory.
So whatever allegiances you may have toward one company or the other, it seems certain that many great offers will be coming the way of the consumer in the coming months and years in a bid to tempt their business away from the competitor. And with the Voip market continuing to grow year on year, this battle could continue for many a year.
The world of Voip has been synonymous with Skype ever since it was first released over 10 years ago. Challengers to Skype's dominance have come and fallen by the way-side in their droves, from MSN to Microsft, but none have been able to compete with their business model of free worldwide Voip calls.
Facebook is rapidly approaching the 1 billion users mark, half of whom already use their mobile phones to connect to the social platform on a regular basis. For the majority of users, it is already the place of choice to communicate with friends and family, and as such a Voip service seems like an obvious natural progression.
A platform which, for most of its users, is already the primary place to interact and connect with others online. It also has a host of other advantages too, such as a phonebook and a host of most user-friendly features, such as pictures and videos.
It is indeed very plausible that Facebook will, in a short space of time, be able to match and surpass Skype's revenues, considering that Skype's premium model has already proven itself to be significantly more profitable per user than Facebook's advertising model.
And when i say far more profitable, i really mean it. Figures show that Facebook presently generates, on average, less than $10 per user per year in revenue. Compare this to Skype's advertising model which results in users paying an average of $100 per annum, and the difference is immense.
But all of this speculation and potential is nothing more than hear-say at the present time, and there is a lot of ground to be made up before any accurate assumptions can be made. Added to that the fact that Skype now have the full power and backing of Microsoft, and the stage is set for what maybe the most hotly fought telecommunications battle in living memory.
So whatever allegiances you may have toward one company or the other, it seems certain that many great offers will be coming the way of the consumer in the coming months and years in a bid to tempt their business away from the competitor. And with the Voip market continuing to grow year on year, this battle could continue for many a year.
