Wall Street Legend

  Chapter 297 Voice

  Skype network communication company has indeed encountered a lot of trouble recently.

In this 2G era, the mobile phone call service is still very important to those communication operators, and the market size is not small. Now the Skype program that also implements the charging function is cheap and attracts more and more paying users. It seems that he is plucking the wool on his body, so it is strange to be happy.

  After all, Ye Dongqing has basically no investment, just borrowing the network platform they have worked so hard to build, and can make a lot of money from it. In order to save phone charges, people prefer to use computers for long-term calls instead of mobile phones.

It was better in the middle of last year. Since the second half of the year, it has affected the call business of these communication operators. Since the beginning of this year, with the launch of advertisements many times, more people have been attracted to become registered users of Skype, which directly affects the business of those companies. Influence, including Time Warner Group, Verizon Telecom, AT&T, Comcast Group, etc., are all standing opposite Ye Dongqing. It cannot be said that they are suppressing with all their strength. These giants also know about influence, but it comes from The crackdown on multiple fronts is indeed continuing.

Last month, Mexico American Telecom officially issued a notice prohibiting Skype from transmitting data in its network. Deutsche Telekom is launching an investigation against Skype, and is also waiting to see the attitude of other EU counterparts, such as France Telecom, the UK There are also telecom companies making small moves from time to time.

The main reason for all this is that Skype has developed too fast and moved their cake, so I hope to follow the example of Mexican American Telecom and kill potential risks before the situation gets worse, otherwise as the number of Internet users increases More and more, they feel that they may lose a large part of the calling business market, and are trying to characterize Skype as a "telecom company" and then put a rope on it to restrict it.

Recently, there has also been bad news in Washington, because Skype conversations are encrypted and cannot be intercepted, which makes Skype a perfect tool for criminals. Recently, the judicial department has passed several cases to characterize Skype as a tool for criminals. So much so that Ye Dongqing had to try to combat this behavior.

   It's really wrong to say that, wouldn't criminals use prepaid cards to discuss things without Skype? It can only be said that there are too many competitors and they were specifically targeted. The company's legal department is trying to solve this problem, but Ye Dongqing feels that it is really necessary to find a way to resolve the immediate problem, but it seems that there is no better way We can’t really sell this company at a low price, or increase the cost of Skype calls by two to three times according to the ideas of those people. cash out.

In the previous life, the expansion speed of Skype was not so fast, but this time it was a big hit. Ye Dongqing heard that Verizon Telecommunications Company of the United States is also trying to develop a similar product recently. He sincerely hopes that the other party will develop it, and it is a relatively good one , and then become a competitor of Skype, at least in this way, there is no need to be targeted by Verizon Telecom, which is another giant with a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars, its influence cannot be underestimated, and it exerts a lot of pressure on Skype...

"Its service has impacted the traditional fixed-line telephone service and mobile phone service. When traditional telecom companies operate these two services, they need to pay high marketing expenses and basic capacity construction expenses. When users use these services, they generally rely on distance Pay by the minute and by the minute, so the traditional model is to charge as much as possible from everyone, which is the exact opposite of Skype's business model.

   We spend zero on acquiring new users and maintaining web traffic, the only money we spend is on business development and software development. This is a very good business model for us, and it may be very bad for them, but times are changing. If there is no Skype, there will be other similar products. It cannot be said that Skype has impacted the traditional call service, but only It can be said that the times are different, and more Skype will emerge in the future. For example, my company is developing new products based on this technology, which can realize video calls. It is like talking face-to-face through the computer screen and the Internet. It has been successful in the laboratory, and it will be put into the market for testing in the next quarter. "

  Ye Dongqing was wearing a serious suit and was being interviewed by The New York Times Magazine. He took the initiative to throw an olive branch to the New York Times and wanted to make some excuses for the recent lawsuit investigation against Skype.

Whether it will be effective or not is unknown for the time being, but he knows that the majority of users must be on his side. Otherwise, if Skype is blocked in the United States, where can these people find such a cheap and safe calling program? The resistance of the giants does not shy away from mentioning Skype's wool at this moment, because that is a well-known fact, and some media try to portray Skype as a thief.

For example, a newspaper called the "Baltimore Sun" wrote in an article published the day before yesterday: "Skype's operating costs are very low, and the entire communication base is composed of the network itself and the user's computer, so the continuation of the call does not require additional expenses. Marketing is also cheap, as users spontaneously invite others to join in. With Facebook, Skype has no desktop support system, but instead references systems with thousands of users and standard Internet services, monetizing ancillary services. Borrowing telecom operators It is a very shameful thing to make money through a network formed by merchants at a high cost."

Now Ye Dongqing responded. He tried to make people understand that Skype is also an Internet company, no different from other Internet companies that provide certain services to users, and it is also a part of social development, but it involves the interests of certain people. That's why it was so targeted.

He is considered a serious New Yorker, and he has met privately with the majority shareholder of The New York Times. The reporter sitting in front of Ye Dongqing at the moment did not show much aggressiveness, and continued to ask with a recording pen: "So what do you have to say about condoning crime?"

"Just a few years ago I was living at the bottom of society and I saw a lot of crime and it was terrible, but their crimes had nothing to do with Skype, if a person wanted to commit a crime he could talk face to face , You can write letters, you can also make phone calls, you can't impose such unreasonable claims on Skype, it is just a tool that facilitates people's lives.

  Why do you have to refer to it in particular? If you have to pursue it, the phone business of the telecommunications company is more extensive. I can cite many examples of criminals calling to discuss things. There is nothing wrong with the tool itself, and whether it is good or bad depends on the individual..."

  (end of this chapter)