The company, which lets users make free phone calls through the Internet using free software available on its website, launched Personalize Skype on Thursday, another free software package that lets users send pictures, sounds and ringtones over Skype’s network.
But representatives at Skype said online video would not be far off.
“[This] is a first step and we will have more announcements before the end of the year,” Skype Vice President Saul Klein told reporters. “This new feature opens up a new and exciting market for content providers looking to deliver applications to Skype’s global callers.”
Klein said the company already has partnered with American Greetings, Qpass and Wee World to offer pictures, sounds and ringtones through Personalize Skype, but that video services are currently in development and likely to be released before the end of the year.
Skype hopes to catch the interest of many content producers, backed by the fact that its software has been downloaded nearly 175 million times in 225 countries. The company sold to eBay earlier this month for $1.3 billion in cash and 32.4 million shares of eBay stock.
“We are starting with ringtones but we would not discount any possibilities,” Klein said. “Part of the message we want to send out is that Skype is open for business and that people, third parties, can work with Skype to provide content.”
Skype intends to partner with content providers through various forms of rev share models, likely using up sells to premium services to make most of its money. For example, the company currently offers calling for free, but charges for services like voicemail and call forwarding.