Tom Evslin has posted a thoughtful commentary on why he thinks eBay’s made a mistake by acquiring Skype.  His principal points are:

1. In the markets where Skype’s strong, the primary barrier to eBay-type commerce is not lack of communications, but the existence of large "grey markets" where transactions go unrecorded. This fact devalues eBay’s access to new markets argument.

2. Skype’s not yet  "great standalone business" as eBay proclaims in its presentation on the topic.  Evslin thinks Skype is just an asset, with no guarantees of becoming a "business".

I still like eBay’s "friction reduction" thinking.