2005年NPR美国国家公共电台九月-eBay Buys Net Phone Provider Skype

E-Bay has agreed to pay more than 2.6 billion dollars to purchase Internet phone provider Skype. The Internet auction¹ giant is hoping that Skype will boost its auction service by making it easier for users to communicate. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

In buying Skype , E-Bay is hoping to grab a little buzz from an Internet phenom. Skype has attracted 54 million devoted² customers worldwide drawn³ by the prospect⁴ of free and easy phone service over the Internet. If you are wondering what any of this has to do with an Internet auction site, E-Bay says it's about monetizing E-Commerce ，E-Bay’s Henny Dersy translates.

“The integration⁵ of Skype into E-Bay may help buyers and sellers communicate directly with one another, which may in turn accelerate e-commerce on eBay .

Why not just talk on the phone now? In the future, E-Bay users might be able to reach Skype partners by simply clicking on a link, they could talk for free and remain anonymous⁶ behind their Skype/ usernames. E-Bay says all of this would simplify big international purchases in particular. Asked what type of transactions the company has in mind, CEO Meg Whitman said really big things.

Buying a used bulldozer, for example, could take a high degree of involvement from both buyer and seller because it's expensive and complex. Doing this entirely⁷ through E-mail or IM could be difficult. Using Skype would be quicker and easier and very cost-effective.

Bulldozer purchases aside, E-Bay is clearly interested in latching⁸ on to the customer loyalty⁹ that has helped Skype establish a fanatical fan base, users who spread news of the free phone service primarily by word of mouth. The question according to Marybour Lopez at Forrester Research is will it last.

Just because you've purchased a community, it doesn’t mean the community is going to stay with you as technologies evolve.

Lopez says she's surprised to see E-Bay paying billions for a company that has few assets aside from a clever software design that other companies are already trying to imitate. It reminds her of the bloated prices many Internet companies attracted during the tech bubble of the 1990s. Lopez says E-Bay may have felt competitive pressures to enter the arena¹⁰ for Internet telephone services.

The competition is steep both in the voice arena and just in the arena for a community at large. If you look at Google, Yahoo ,AOL, MSN. All these companies are really targeting the same set of users.

All these companies have launched their own on-line phone services but none has anything approaching Skype’s international user base. E-Bay says it has no immediate¹¹ plans to change the way Skype works. Calls between / Skype/ users are currently free, the company charges for calls that go to or from regular land line or wireless¹² phones. Skype generated about seven million dollars in revenue in 2004. Compare that to two billion in E-Bay revenues for the first half of this year. Rudy Balker, a telecom analyst¹³ with Precursor¹⁴ says E-Bay's high profile among US consumers should be good for Skype which only gets about 10% of its users from the US.

It marries Skype which has penetrated¹⁵ into the technophiles consciousness with eh E-Bay which is sort of the compelling consumer consciousness.

Analysts¹⁶ may disagree about whether the purchase of Skype is a clever pairing or another foolish attempt to merge¹⁷ companies from completely different parts of the economy, but the merger¹⁸ does put new energy behind the rush to Internet-based telephone services.

1 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

2 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

3 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

6 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 latching   

n.闭塞；闭锁；关闭；闭塞装置v.理解( latch的现在分词 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上）

参考例句：

• They have a reputation for latching onto all the latest crazes. 大家都知道他们对所有的最新时尚都有兴趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sometimes we should tolerate people's mistakes instead of latching on to them. 有的时候我们要能够容错，不要揪着对方的失误不放。 来自互联网

9 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

10 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

13 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

14 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

15 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

16 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

17 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

18 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。