I've received quite a bit of response to my humble musings on the significance of the eBay Skype marriage, but nothing so good as the reponse I'm about to share with you from John Farmer.

First off, however, a big thanks to everyone who not only reads my blog, but takes the time to e-mail me their thoughts as well.

Now John Farmer writes:

I  thought your blog about the price paid by eBay for Skype was on the button.
I wonder whether eBay saw this item on their own site before they made their offer for Skpye:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5807543926

The seller, www.whitephone.com, says:
"Using this product you can compete directly with Skype, and go a stage further with your own community-building announcements system, video mail broadcasts, and many more unique features."

Seems that eBay could have saved $2bn to $4bn?

You would think that someone would have posted this info on Craigslist at least... ;)
Thanks John!