Facebook assembled the press Tuesday to announce the launch of its Graph Search. It was big news, but what the company should have announced is the initial launch of a VoIP service to one of the largest customer bases in the world.
On Wednesday, Facebook added a free voice calling feature to its iOS Messenger app in the United States. The feature is iOS-only, and Facebook offered no additional details to The Verge’s inquiries as to when the feature would land on additional operating systems or when it would launch internationally.
Coy question-dodging aside, what Facebook did with Wednesday’s news is take the first step toward leapfrogging its video-calling partner, Skype. Skype is owned by Microsoft, and Microsoft’s Bing search engine powers Facebook’s out-of-network searches.
When asked if Facebook and Skype were partnering to bring VoIP to Facebook apps, a Skype spokesperson told Wired via e-mail a simple “No,” and would not comment beyond that. Does this mean Facebook developed its own VoIP offering? More importantly, is Facebook charging full steam into the VoIP world?
The new feature isn’t exactly easy to find within the iOS app. To access the free voice calls, you need to tap on a friend, then tap on the “i” in the top right corner. The “Free Call” option should appear under your friend’s photo.
In addition to the convoluted process to make a call, there are other hoops in the U.S. and Canada-only initial rollout. If you have a mobile device, chances are you have plenty of minutes on your voice plan to call your friends. A U.S.-only Facebook VoIP service is nice, but it’s not something that will impact many users. On the other hand, once this feature goes international and covers all the major platforms, that’s when Facebook starts cutting into Skype’s bread and butter.
Skype charges for international calls. It’s less expensive than a call from a land or mobile line. If Facebook were to roll its free voice feature out internationally, suddenly all those payphone calls are free. It’s not just the free calls that’ll hurt Skype; it’s the fact that the company can’t compete with Facebook’s 1 billion users on a monthly basis.
“Facebook does have a very big installed base that already uses the instant messaging function within Facebook,” IHS analyst Francis Sideco told Wired. “It definitely has a good base in which to attack this market. It really depends on the business model and how they go to market with it.”
Skype touted 45 million concurrent users in October. That’s a great milestone for the VoIP service, but it pales in comparison to Facebook’s billion users. If all those Facebookers suddenly gained access to free phone calls, it would not only cut into Skype and other VoIP services like Vonage; it’d also cut into the profits of the telecoms that still charge an arm and a leg to call friends and family in other countries.
IHS analyst Ian Fogg told Wired that delivering VoIP over messenger gives the social network another way to get its users to launch an app.
“It helps boost the engagement level of Facebook user base and indirectly supports all of Facebook advertising businesses,” Fogg says.
But, he also notes, “Just because it’s there doesn’t mean they’ll use it. They may just keep sharing events and posting photos.”
Even if you build a something great, it doesn’t mean that subscribers will flock to it. When’s the last time you got an invite to a Facebook Video Call?
Still, Wednesday’s update could be the first step toward changing the way we communicate internationally, and that could be bigger than searching for your friend’s favorite pizza places in Houston.
Facebook representatives were not available for comment by press time.
Facebook Could Bury Video-Calling Partner Skype With a Tiny App Update
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Facebook Could Bury Video-Calling Partner Skype With a Tiny App Update
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Facebook Could Bury Video-Calling Partner Skype With a Tiny App Update
