Monday, January 09, 2006
Major Skype Development Snack
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12:17 PM
In early December I did a review of the telecom voice market technologies, and responded to Walt Mossberg's premature call on Skype going mainstream. Last week, one of the requirements that I cited for Skype to truly go mainstream was fulfilled with a product announcement at CES from Netgear of a WiFi phone for Skype. The main feature of the announced device is that no computer is required. Pricing for the handset has not been announced yet. Assuming it is reasonable, this gives Skype a truly fighting chance at becoming a home/business phone service replacement.
Since Skype is now owned by eBay, the best direct play on this is probably through buying the Netgear product and enjoying it, rather than a stock market play. Both eBay and Netgear have lots of other products and these developments are not likely to move their bottom lines too dramatically over the short term. This should definitely put a damper on other stand-alone VoIP players though (especially Vonage, who has a rumored IPO and/or buyout). This is all story, but it's a good one.
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