News In Brief 12 September 2005

EBay Purchase of Skype Prelude To Apple Announcement

Internet Phone Company Key to iPhone Deal and Millions in Resale of Calls

The Associated Press is reporting that EBay Inc. will purchase the internet telephone company, Skype Technologies SA, for about $2.6 billion in up-front cash and eBay stock.

The widely-speculated purchase is viewed as a prelude to a planned announcement of a partnership between Apple and eBay, for Apple's new iTunes cell phone, Rokr.

Apple debuted the Rokr last week, and, in a twist, stated that the users of Rokr will need to download their telephone calls from iPhone, the new Apple cell phone service, in partnership with Motorola and Cingular Wireless.

When downloading their calls, Rokr users can also download an accompanying iTune song at a discount rate.

It was been rumored that Apple and eBay have been in talks, to allow eBay to set up a program on iPhones that will allow Rokr users to sell their telephone calls, at whatever price the market will bear.

The acquisition of Skype is viewed as allowing eBay to run a similar operation on their own site, independent of Apple, and the required iTune-compatible program and equipment.