P2P僅僅顛覆網路電話產業?─以 Skype為對象的個案研究

Abstract

本研究係以個案研究法，透過資料蒐集、整理、回顧與分析等方式，嘗試去探討Skype這家公司如何透過一個同名的免費小軟體，近幾年於傳統電信、網路電話服務、即時訊息服務、電子商務與其他Internet Business等產業間，掀起漫天風雲式的衝擊，並試著歸納出它對這些相關產業未來發展的影響。 從Skype這家公司本身、Skype軟體提供的功能與服務、Skype的產品與市場行銷策略、Skype的互補性產品、Skype的主要競爭對手，以及eBay購併Skype等分析中，本研究發現Skype對相關產業可能的影響，至少有以下三方面：對電信產業的影響－單純的通訊服務，其價格將趨向免費；對即時訊息服務業的影響－IM將進入商業生態系統之爭；對線上拍賣產業的影響－即時競標與即時團購的出現。

This paper intends to research how Skype emerges rapidly from the horizon of e-Business landscape and how it brings tremendous impact to the traditional telecommunications industry, Internet telephone service, IM (Instant Messaging) services, and the rest of Internet-related business. In fact, Skype, a few years back, was a business nobody and set up to distribute its own free software, Skype, to the market. This paper will investigate how and what Skype has done to achieve this through case study, data collection, and retrospective analysis. The research scope of this paper covers below threads: (1) the business background of Skype itself, (2) the software feature and function that Skype provides, (3) the marketing strategy of Skype product, (4) the complimentary product of Skype software, (5) the competitors that Skype faces with, (6) the merge maneuver that Bay brings towards Skype. With the analysis of such threads, this research identifies the Skype may influence the related industries at least in 3 aspects: (1) Impact on the telecommunications industry: Skype is the rule-breaker to provide easy-to-use communication service to the market, leading the charge price downward rapidly. (2) Impact on the IM (Instant Messaging) industry: Skype drives the business ecosystem into fierce competition overnight. (3) Impact on the on-line auction industry: Skype contributes to the emerging of real-time on-line bidding and group purchasing.