The Skype ecosystem: A labour of love

It's possible third-party developers could end up aiding Skype in its search for revenues. London-based Connectotel, mentioned by both Louis and Enck as one of the more interesting Skype products out there, allows you to send SMS text messages from Skype to mobile phones, and vice versa.

Currently the service is free but Enck speculates the two companies - or Skype and another third-party developer - could strike a revenue-sharing deal at some point. Such a model could work particularly well with Connectotel because text messages are something people are used to paying for.

Yet the overall financial impact third parties will have on Skype should be minimal. The most direct effect is their ability to drive the number of registered users, which Skype counts at 29 million, as they add desirable features.

Any progress that can be made in freeing Skype from the computer - to which users are tethered via headset or handset - could boost its popularity with less tech-savvy populations. Siemens has developed one such product, the Gigaset M34 USB adaptor, which allows Skype users to make calls on a cordless phone. SummitCircle's Louis says it's "by far the coolest Skype-related hardware currently on the market".

While Skype is used by businesses already, these third-party add-ons are unlikely to affect its presence in the enterprise one way or the other. Among many IT managers, says Enck, there is "still an element that [Skype] can be uncontrolled or dangerous" - and the ability to add voicemail or use it with a phone won't change that. There's also considerable competition in the enterprise market with big names that have a trusted reputation for delivering quality voice services with businesses.

This is why Enck says he "would expect the emphasis to remain on consumer and mobile".

The Skype ecosystem, though largely positive for the company, does present some risk to the strong brand name. Skype has no quality-control over many of these products, yet many users still associate them with Skype and may even expect support. When things go wrong with the add-ons, it reflects badly on Skype - however unfair that is.

Earlier this year, blogger Andy Abramson wrote about his experience with a security fault in a popular voicemail add-on called SAM (Skype Answering Machine). Skype was quick to point out it was not responsible - but because many users are apt to misunderstand who developed which products, such events, of which there are likely to be more, could dent Skype's reputation as a provider of reliable software.

Skype's Zennstrom points out the company has a certification programme for third parties using the API. Overall, though, he doesn't appear overly concerned about the issue, saying, "Generally as long as we're not bundling the product [with Skype], users don't expect support... We haven't seen it as a problem so far."

Louis runs SummitCircle.com as a hobby and though he does make some money from Google ads on the site and from the Amazon and eBay affiliate programmes, he says he "never intended to make a living off the site".

"I figure that some people watch TV in the evenings, some people read books and I create and manage SummitCircle.com," he explains.

He didn't expect his site to wind up at the epicentre of the burgeoning Skype ecosystem but he's risen to the challenge, with plans afoot to improve ease-of-use and grow his audience.

For him, like so many in the Skype community - whether developers of Skype products, bloggers or just passionate users who spread the word to friends - their work is a labour of love.

If you are a user or developer of a Skype-related product, please let us know by posting a Reader Comment below or emailing us at editorial@silicon.com.