Yahoo Ready to Launch Phone Service
Yahoo revealed on Wednesday that it had two new VoIP services in the works for its Yahoo Messenger client, which would allow users to place and receive phone calls. Called Phone In and Phone Out, the additions would allow Yahoo to compete with companies like Skype in the growing VoIP market.
The company has remained mum on when it plans to launch the services, although they are expected to debut first in seven countries including Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, Spain, and the United States.
Phone Out would allow users to place phone calls to over 180 countries, costing a penny per minute in the US and two cents a minute to close to three dozen countries.
In comparison, Skype offers a global rate of 1.7 euro cents per minute, or two cents per minute USD for calls to landline phones and U.S. and Canadian mobiles. Calls to mobile phones elsewhere through Skype are more expensive.
Conversely, the Phone In service would allow callers to call a number and reach a Yahoo Messenger user. The feature would support multiple telephone numbers, including the capability to choose international phone numbers. Yahoo Phone In will cost $2.99 USD per month, or $29.90 USD for a full year of service.
Yahoo joins a growing list of tech companies that are eyeing VoIP as a possible additional revenue stream. Sources tell BetaNews that a deal between MCI and Microsoft is near to bring VoIP to its upcoming Windows Live Call service, and Sony is already on the market with its VoIP plus video service called IVE.
Google, meanwhile, says it plans to add VoIP services to its Google Talk client in the future. The new offerings will attempt to take on Skype, which has taken the consumer VoIP space by storm in recent months.
"The ink on the $4.1 billion eBay-Skype deal is almost dry and already competitors are lining up to rain on Skype's parade," technology pundit Om Malik wrote in his Web log Wednesday. "If the regulatory/incumbent problems were not enough, here comes news that Yahoo will soon upgrade its Messenger's dialout/dial in features to compete with SkypeIn/SkypeOut."
The Yahoo Messenger client would also be enabled with a direct-connect feature that would allow for instantaneous PC-to-PC calling with contacts on a user's buddy list.
Yahoo said it would give out free microphone headsets to those who sign up for the Phone Out service as an incentive to join when it launches.