While for the last couple of years, the biggest news was VoIP, and the battles for control of that market, something of a surprise emerged that may reshape the market. Specifically, the launch of a comparatively new platform called WebRTC - and its set to take on both telecommunications firms and VoIP providers and likely lead up to a battle between Skype and Facebook.
WebRTC, a means to develop real-time communications systems that can be built directly into web pages themselves, will pose a threat to the telcos by offering a simple, easy way to connect via the web and bypassing phone lines almost entirely. But the real threat here is not to the telcos, but rather to the VoIP services themselves. While telcos have already had something of a fight on their hands in fending off the advance of VoIP, VoIP has a few issues of its own in terms of taking on WebRTC, specifically, the paywall VoIP commonly used to ensure it had a market. For instance, while anyone can call a device via Skype, only Skype users can talk to Skype users at no charge. Calling a landline or the like from Skype requires a payment.
Meanwhile, WebRTC is busily eating the lunches of both camps. In an era where more people have a buddy list than a little black book, replacing a phone number with a handle or user name is comparatively simple. This in turn gives WebRTC a serious advantage in one of the biggest fronts of communications. But there are several other fronts at which WebRTC will have to move to get the best shot at survival. These include calls staged between businesses and consumers (regardless of the direction the call travels), as well as calls made within businesses themselves - one division calling another - and between business partners.
This leads to the likely inevitable battle: while Skype is doing big things in the VoIP market space - with 65 million users signing in every day, and using 700 million voice and video minutes a day -there's no denying that Facebook, who is weighing in on the WebRTC concept, has much more in terms of traffic, with 900 million users a month spending 13 billion minutes per day on the service. Additionally, in terms of mobility, both Facebook and Facebook Messenger are more frequently downloaded than Skype on the iTunes charts as well as on Google Play.
The two sides are fairly tightly matched. Skype has the advantage in that it's already focused on real-time communications and has the backing of Microsoft. Facebook has an enormous user base, has its own backing, and is communications-focused, if not necessarily on real-time communication just yet. But since many users are already using Facebook as a chat system, the thought of adding a little something extra to it and focusing on real-time communication is not only possible, it's likely. That's going to put Skype and Facebook at loggerheads, but also gives Facebook an edge with its massive user base, and gives Facebook something it sorely needs: a new revenue source.
Skype will definitely be in for a fight if Facebook focuses harder on real-time communications. It needs to further differentiate itself, and provide better features to make sure people continue to use its service instead of migrating to Facebook. Otherwise, Skype may well find itself the also-ran in a race Facebook won.
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi
