eBay’s (Nasdaq: EBAY) VOIP subsidiary Skype is starting to gain momentum with a surge of branded phones and deals in regard to ‘click-to-call’ advertising.  Instead of debating  forever if the Skype acquisition was the right move for eBay or whether or not it overpaid for it, lets look at what’s going on with Skype.  (By the way, I do think eBay overpaid for Skype but I am willing to give eBay some more time to redeem themselves and make it work).

eBay’s recent deals with Yahoo on the domestic front and Google on the international front should really help Skype.  Both Yahoo and Google will use Skype along with their own Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk services for their ‘click-to-call’ advertising initiative. The emergence of ‘click-to-call’ advertising will also be a big plus for Skype.  I wouldn’t want to download Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger and Skype and use the one which is available with a click-to-call advertisement.  With both Google and Yahoo using Skype for their ‘click-to-call’ initiatives it gives a Skype a huge edge.  Skype is even being included in the Google Toolbar. 

Also, being a gadget junky, I have been noticing a lot of new Skype enabled handsets come on the market recently.  Some of these don’t even require you to have a computer.  Interesting thing is that some of these handsets are made by big time companies like GE and Philips. 

Thomson (NYSE: TMS) and Skype will release a GE (NYSE: GE) branded landline phone that integrates with Skype and lets user makes VOIP phone calls using Skype. 

Courtesy: engadget

Meanwhile Netgear’s (Nasdaq: NTGR) Skype phone is finally shipping according to engagdet.  This phone is what the future is all about.  If you have WiFi access then you can make phone calls and receive them as well via your Skype account or make SkypeOut calls.  Although, this phone will only appeal to niche users for now the potential of this phone could be huge.  Once Wimax becomes mainstream and covers entire cities a similar Wimax phone could make cell phones obsolete.

Courtesy: engadget

Belkin also is coming out with its own Skype WiFi phone. 

Courtesy: engadget

European heavyweight Philips (NYSE: PHG) isn’t going to sit back either.  They are coming out with their own Skype phone and should probably do pretty well in Skype’s main market in Europe.  We in the United States sometimes forget the popularity of Skype overseas. 

Courtesy: engadget

Here are a couple of other Skype handsets from Logitech (Nasdaq: LOGI) and US Robotics. 

Courtesy: engadget. 

* I am long EBAY

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Paypal, which many consider the crown jewel of eBay?s various business units, is about to get some major competition. The rumors about GBuy have turned out to be true and it seems like the launch will be sometime this month. Now, I am pretty sure GBuy will be available right away for Google?s Adsense and Adwords customers. They will probably even sign up some heavyweight retailers (Amazon.com anyone?).

All that is fine but the biggest threat for Paypal will come with the tie in of GBuy with Google Adwords. According to published reports, Google will allow consumers to pay for items or services when they click on Google Adwords ads, by putting a GBuy icon next to them. This will definitely be a major coup for Google as they have the most popular contextual ad platform in the business. But I hope you didn?t forget eBay just signed a deal with Yahoo where Yahoo will promote Paypal as a payment option. Are we going to see Yahoo do the same with their contextual ad program? Why not?

The other thing to think about is whether Google?s entry into this space is a good thing for Paypal. Will some healthy competition make Paypal?s creative juices flowing? Also, will GBuy expand the whole online payment system grow to new heights where both GBuy and Paypal benefit? Will eBay allow GBuy as an option in its auctions? Are we ready for micropayments?

Google?s last few product launches have been unspectacular to say the least. Google Finance is no where near as refined as Yahoo! Finance and all indications show that it hasn?t really taken off. We can say the same thing about Google Talk and Google Base. However, you can never right off Google and if anyone can compete against Paypal its Google.

Full Disclosure: I own shares of eBay

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eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) is all set to start its own keyword based advertising platform for web publishers called AdContext. The program, which will be similar to Google Adwords, will allow website publishers to run ads generated by eBay.

So, if you have a site about Microsoft?s Xbox, eBay’s AdContext will show auctions on Xbox. However, unlike Adsense where publishers get paid per click, eBay?s program will only pay if the person wins the auction.

Currently, eBay is not only a major competitor of Google but is also one of Google’s biggest customers. Try typing in ?xbox? in the Google search engine and you will see an ad from eBay. eBay does generate a good amount of traffic from Google but by starting its own advertisement network it will probably save tons of money. This is a clear message to Google that eBay is ready for a fight. Google has been encroaching into eBay?s various business units like shopping.com, Skype, Paypal and also Craigslist (eBay owns 25%). I doubt eBay completely opts out of Google?s Adwords program because it still needs Google’s search engine to generate traffic for eBay.

I see this as a big way for web publishers to monetize their sites and would be interesting to see how many sign up for eBay?s AdContext. One thing to consider is that Google doesn?t allow competing advertisement services to run on the same page. Since, eBay?s ads are not competing with Google?s; will they allow publishers to run eBay?s ads on their pages?

I think its clear that eBay will keep on expanding into new services and maybe its time for us to add eBay into the ?Big three? and start calling it the ?Big four?.

Full Disclosure: I own shares of eBay.

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eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) owned Skype said today that it will let its users, in US and Canada, call any phone for free (including regular landline/cellular phones) until the rest of this year. Skype is still not a household name in the US as it is in the rest of the world and it home market of Europe. The service was previously offered through the feature SkypeOut, enabling people to call any regular phone.

I tried the free Skype out service myself today and found it very easy to use. You just download Skype and start making calls. The service would be good for people who have PDA’s and a Skype client enabling them to make free calls wherever there is wireless internet available. It would be interesting to see how people react to free Skype. eBay has already sent out the email about this to its registered users.

I think this is a good move by eBay to market Skype in US and Canada. With traditional internet portals like Yahoo, MSN, Google and AOL getting into the VOIP business its important for Skype to maintain leadership in this sector. By allowing SkypeOut for free, Skype will be able to sell other services such as SkypeIn which lets users pick a telephone number to receive calls. It would be interesting to see how Vonage (which is supposed to IPO soon), traditional phone companies and react to this. I am also waiting to see the reaction from Yahoo and Google. Hopefully, we don’t see internet providers like at&t and Comcast blocking VOIP calls.

Full Disclosure: I own eBay shares

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MediaDailyNews: eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) was picked to test an online trading system to buy and sell TV ads. According to Ray Warren, president of Carat Media Group Americas, eBay was chosen “based on their scale and their expertise and their brand name, which comes with some credibility in doing this kind of thing. Obviously, we wanted to make sure we get it right.” eBay first pitched the concept to the Association of National Advertisers’ Television Advertising Committee in January, and presented the idea again in a more public form earlier this week during the ANA’s Financial Management Committee meeting in Naples, FL. The task force has floated a $50 million budget for the test phase.

Although, this is only a test phase, this can be huge for eBay if it eventually works out and goes live. I have heard of some websites that have auctioned off their ad space using eBay. Maybe eBay can also expand this to other form of Media including Internet advertising and Radio advertising. Things are looking up for eBay even though the stock traded to its 52-week low of $30.90 today.

Here’s my previous article on eBay in which I noted 8 things I like about eBay. You can make this number 9. The article was also mentioned by TheStreet.com.

Full Disclosure: I own eBay shares

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A little insider action going on at EBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). Edward Barnholt, Director, bought 4500 shares of Ebay at $34.24 for a total purchase price of $154,080. The transaction was made on 26th April and reported on April 27th. This gives me a little more confidence in my picking eBay on April 25th, 2006. Edward Barnholt, didn’t own eBay share before this purchase.

There has been some insider selling as well. Rajiv Dutta, President of Skype, and Maynard Webb, COO, sold a total 80,000 shares among them the last couple of days. But unlike Edward Barnholt these guys own thousands of eBay shares.

Source: Netsteering.com

Full Disclosure: I own shares of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)

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Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is looking very attractive at current price of $34.49. The stock has been beaten down due to a lackluster 1Q report and outlook. However, I think its time to buy into eBay at current levels.

Some things to note about eBay:

1. eBay Express looks very promising and the design looks very nice and clean.
2. eBay Express will take away revenue from outfits such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Buy.com (Private) and Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK)
3. Skype continues its tremendous growth and should continue to add to the bottom-line.
4. Netgear is ready to rollout their Skype phone. This area looks very promising for Skype’s future. As more and more cities become WiFi ready we?ll see more use of devices such as this.
5. The talk of eBay monetizing their webpages by using advertising should bring in huge amount of revenues. This will have to be done in a way that it doesn’t upset sellers with competing ads and doesn’t distract buyers. With the amount of hits eBay generates this has a huge potential.
6. The Google threat is overblown specially considering that Google?s latest offerings such as Google Talk and Google Finance have been lackluster.
7. The 25% stake in Craigslist was a good move as well for eBay.
8. Paypal?s latest offering of payments via cell phone looks very promising as well. I don?t see Google?s new payment offering to be a threat to Paypal anytime soon.

Full Disclosure – I own eBay shares.

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Following are the some of the initial things I like about the Google Finance.

1. All the stock information is on the same page and very fast loading.
2. The headlines are from all news sources (seems to be using Google News) instead of a just a few financial reporting sites.
3. The message board for each stock will be on groups.google.com. You can start a discussion and see all the reply’s on the same page. On Yahoo you have it click on each message which gets very annoying.
4. Perhaps the best feature is the blog entries for each stock. Google is using its own blog search site (blogsearch.google.com) for this purpose. However, each stock has its own search query. If you simply have a entry on Yahoo on your blog it will not show up. However, if you have Yahoo Inc. then it will show up. So bloggers will have to make sure they are using the exact name that Google is pulling for its blog search. For example, my Blogs on SIFY do not show because Google uses the term ?Sify Ltd.? However, if you search for ?Sify? my blog shows up. Anyways a great idea to add a blog entries on the main Google Finance page.
5. The simplicity of the design is where Google always wins out and it has in this case as well.

What I don’t like about Google Finance:

1. There could be a lot of unrelated news of the stock since Google is pulling news from all news sources. They should have a separate section for official company news release.
2. They need to provide capability to arrange all the different sections up to the user?s preference and also let users add other sections that might be missing. This would be something like they provide on Google’s personalized Home Page.

After initially playing around with the site I think it?s a very well thought of site. Everything that I need is on the same page and saves me time. I am waiting for the markets to open before further exploring the site but I might switch from Yahoo! Finance to Google Finance. Hopefully, this will force Yahoo to redesign its site. For me, the Blog Post section is great and gives bloggers like me more visibility. I personally like the site very much and I am switching to Google Finance.

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On the other hand, Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is looking under-priced at about $30. It’s a much more diversified company compared to Google’s various business units. Yahoo is also challenging Google Adsense domination by rolling out a similar service for web publishers, which is still in beta mode. I for example, use both Adsense and Yahoo on this site. Let’s see what kind of advertisements I see from both Google and Yahoo after this article is published. The way I see it, most of the web publishers will not mind splitting their site between the two competing services.

Anyways, I see this as a good entry point for Yahoo. I wouldn?t buy all at once since Yahoo or the overall market could see further downside.

No registration required to leave comments so let me know what you think.

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Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is all set to report earnings on Tuesday. I for one can’t wait to see how they did and see what their outlook looks like. So far, every major Internet or Tech stock has either not met earnings or hasn’t given good outlook (except Microsoft) and seen thier stocks go down. Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) turned out to be a major disappointment but now the stock looks attractive. However, I wouldn’t want to touch Yahoo or any other tech stock until Google reports earnings. If Google dissapoints, look for a broad Tech/Internet sell-off.

Google’s report will define the Internet and Tech sector as a whole and if there is any weakness then a sell off is imminent.

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