Two characters change the way the Internet is exploited

Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis are two characters who have invented groundbreaking products, attracting the attention of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

After the success of the peer-to-peer network Kazaa, they encroached on the Internet conversation and developed VoIP software Skype. They resell Skype for eBay for $ 2.6 billion and then build on the Joost (Venice Project) system, which supports online video sharing similar to YouTube. Estimated, two people will release the official version of Joost this year.

Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis

Niklas Zennström is currently CEO and co-founder of Skype. He is responsible for building the company's strategy and tracking Skype's operations, as well as aligning Skype's future with international standards.

Niklas Zennström

In his career life, Niklas has won numerous awards including the '2006 Business Leader' award (voted by European Voice), 'Computer and communication creation in 2006' (prize creative for economists) and 'Business Communication Award for Individuals who played the role of technology change in 2006 entitled Wharton Infosys'. Niklas was also named the ' Entrepreneur of the Year ' (European Leader Award 2006). Most recently, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential leaders in 2006 voted by Time magazine.

This Swedish software expert started his career while working for a low-cost European telecommunications company called Tele2 in the mid-decade. He holds a bachelor's degree in business and a master's degree in engineering physics / computer science at Uppsala University, Sweden, including the last year at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Here, he met his partner Janus Friis.

Like Niklas, Janus Friis is a tireless worker. Janus is currently the Vice President in charge of managing the creative field, looking ahead to Skype's business strategies and developing the company. Janus is a very active member of the Skype Executive Board. He regularly works with technical groups and products to constantly develop Skype to maintain a leading role in internet communication. But unlike Niklas, Janus grew up in Denmark. He went on by himself and had no formal qualifications.

Skype and ambitions

In March 2001, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström launched the Kazaa application to start earning money by exploiting the fever of file sharing initiated by Napster music network. What makes Kazaa so influential is that it does not centralize all the categories that people share. This approach has helped Kazaa and many similar file-sharing services to avoid the many problems, of which the biggest is the legal side. The result was an explosion of music file exchanges that began and many films quickly emerged through the system as broadband became popular.

Janus Friis

After Kazaa, their second big business project is Skype software, launched in 2003, and also goes towards exploiting completely new technology. Skype headquarters is located in Luxembourg. Based on VoIP Internet telephony protocol, Skype allows users to make free calls to each other or at very low rates from around the world.

Skype makes money through a small number of customers who buy extra services, such as a utility that allows calling from Skype to a fixed phone network or vice versa.

Zennström emphasized that not taking money from all such users is not a new idea. 'This is similar to Google. When using their search engine, customers don't have to pay but sometimes customers click on the ads and Google makes money from those advertising companies. Skype also makes money like that. Just some people spend money to buy more services, not all. '

In addition, phone calls from the internet to mobile phones, voicemail and call forwarding also provide a huge profit for them.

Skype's continued success was officially recorded in September 2005 when eBay acquired the company for $ 2.6 billion. This is the biggest media deal of the era. With 28 languages, Skype is available in almost every country in the world. The number of people using Skype now has increased to 196 million and reached the number of downloading half a billion Skype software.

After selling Skype for eBay for $ 2.6 billion, the two are now working on building the Joost (Venice Project) system, supporting online video sharing similar to YouTube. Estimated, two people will release the official version of Joost this year.

Tam Ha