by CIO Staff

eBay, Skype to Unveil New Tie-Ins on Tuesday

News
Jun 12, 20062 mins
IT Leadership

eBay, the online auction powerhouse, on Tuesday will unveil a number of ways in which it will incorporate its voice-over-IP (VoIP) service provider Skype with its main U.S. auction business, Reuters Canada reports.

John Donahoe, president of eBay’s Marketplace division, told the audience at the company’s annual developer conference in Las Vegas, “We will have some news on Tuesday about Skype,” according to Reuters.

It has been reported that eBay will attempt to persuade its auction sellers to include links to Skype services within their automobile, real estate and diamond jewelry auction listings to foster communication with potential buyers and others, according to Reuters.

Skype executives did not provide additional information at the developer conference, and a Skype spokesperson didn’t provide Reuters with a comment on the news.

The formal announcement is expected to be made on Tuesday when Bill Cobb, president of eBay’s North American unit, gives his keynote speech at eBay’s annual user conference in Las Vegas, according to Reuters.

Len Pryor, head of Skype’s developer relations, told Reuters that the company has been running pilot programs in small Asian and European markets to test Skype and eBay integration, and that key markets like the United States and Germany will be “coming online later.”

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