David Gibbons, who writes a blog called Poductivity, left a short comment here this afternoon inviting comment on this post. Well worth reading, especially for the use cases:
Instead of just buying your ipod on eBay, you will now also browse ebay for cheap support for your ipod when it breaks. If you find a service provider you like, you’ll chat with them live, instantly, simply by clicking on their ebay profile. When you’ve been helped and your call is complete, your ebay/skype account will be debited a service fee which will be divided up between skype for the communications piece, ebay for the marketplace piece and the ebay seller / consultant.
David believes that this acquisition is the beginning of a giant services business opportunity for EBay. He concludes his posting with:
Try simply asking yourself these 2 questions:
Q1 – What is the consumer spending category that is primarily fulfilled via the voice channel?
A – Professional Services.Q2 – What is the largest consumer spending category not / poorly represented on eBay today?
A – Professional Services.
It’s not just professional services, though. It’s all solution oriented selling that is enabled by this model, whether that be travel, a new car, or fixing your PC. Great insights!
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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