The iPhone may branch out in 2010, EBay bids Skype farewell

GOOD DAY FOR: iPhone holdouts, as Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster predicts that the iPhone will be available on multiple U.S. wireless carriers—not just AT&T—in early 2010. That would be a boon to Apple, Munster says, pointing to France, where offering the iPhone through multiple carriers has led to it having 40 percent market share. AT&T’s largest rival, Verizon Wireless, uses an incompatible wireless technology. (ComputerWorld)

BAD DAY FOR: Selling on eBay, after the online auction giant agreed to sell 65 percent of its Skype VoIP unit to a group of private investors, led by Silver Lake, for $1.9 billion in cash. The deal values Skype at $2.75 billion. EBay bought Skype for more than $3 billion in 2005. (Reuters)

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