Skype-Hype shifts focus

Anyone else notice how the hype around Skype has shifted from user growth, quality of service, and innovative features...to how much it will be worth in sale or IPO?

Now the whole "Rupert Murdoch offered $3billion for us although it mysteriously fell through but please, someone else, feel free to offer this amount" meme has spread like crazy, first by Robert Cringely here, then across the blogosphere (here, here, here, et. al., then across the MSM here and here, and now BusinessWeek picks up the story here.

Personally, I suspect either a trade sale or IPO would sap the innovative goodness that has been Skype so far. Then again, could the fact that they're shopping around so blatantly mean they themselves realise they've run out of innovative juice? Or is this just pressure from VCs to cash out while the hype is hottest?

I did like this parting quote from the BW article:

So far, Skype has shown a knack for sucking value out of the traditional telecom world. While that may establish it as a disruptive technology, the company will ultimately be valued on the basis of how much value it creates, not what it can destroy.

This is spot on, and kind of implies their job is half done. Great work on being disruptive, now find a way to be really profitable.

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