Second Life Hires New VP to Help SL Residents Get A Real Life

Second Life, today announced the appointment of a Vice President of Web Development. New in the role is Robin Ducot, previously at Adobe Systems where she held a post with the same title. The hire falls syncs squarely with Linden's expressed goal of "extending the value of Second Life beyond the virtual world and helping Residents more closely integrate Second Life with their daily lives." To that end, the company points to the recent acquisition of Xstreet SL which added an ecommerce component to the virtual world and the launch of AvaLine, a service that lets SL residents receive cell, landline or VoIP calls inworld from people outside Second Life. http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/08/second-life-accelerates-mainstreaming-with-hire.html#more

BOKU Gets "Bigger" By Expanding to Teeny Finland and Tiny Taiwan

Via VWN "Mobile Pay Provider Boku Expands Reach" http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/09/mobile-pay-provider-boku-announces-partners-expansion.html
Boku-logo Monetizing the virtual world experience is one of the significant legs a virtual world and avatar-centric business model stands on. Among the fastest developing trends is the leveraging of mobile numbers and the billing relationship users have with their service provider as a means to facilitate inworld purchases, among other transactions. Mobile payment start-up Boku today announced a number of partnerships in the sector, including deals with Hi5, Meez, Offerpal and WeeWorld, and expansion into a number of far-reaching markets, including Finland and Taiwan. VirtualGoodsNews.com has the full story.

In a Sale, Skype Wins a Chance to Prosper - But Only If It Beefs Up It's Payment Network

Skype must immediately focus on beefing up its international payments infrastructure to start cashing in on its user base. What if every major prepaid card could offer skype credits for example? Anyway, here is a good look at Skype's future options since its sale by BRAD STONE; "SAN FRANCISCO — With its sale to private investors, the online calling service Skype has thrown off the last of the shackles that limited its growth and potential as a unit of eBay. Now its challenge is to turn its global popularity into bigger profits. EBay announced on Tuesday that it was selling Skype to a group led by Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm in Silicon Valley. As part of the deal, which values Skype at $2.75 billion, the buyers agreed to pay $1.9 billion in cash, which includes a loan from eBay of $125 million, for 65 percent of the company. EBay, which is based in San Jose, Calif., will retain a 35 percent stake. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/technology/companies/02ebay.html?_r=1&hpw