We confess to not having the telecom expertise of someone like Om Malik, but we’re wondering more and more everyday about this idea that Skype the company might command a $3 billion price tag. It seems that VoIP services are fast becoming a commodity, if they’re not already. We met with AOL a couple of weeks ago and got a peek at the Triton IM/voice/email client that they’re developing – a slick all-in-one package that will be typically user-friendly. And tonight, we get confirmation that Microsoft is buying Teleo, a private San Francisco VoIP company. (As we noted back in June, Om had the scoop on this a while ago.) Microsoft will the use Teleo technology to enable PC-to-phone calls through its IM client, Messenger. And of course, Yahoo and Google are playing in this space too. Who’s left to buy Skype? Fellow SiliconBeater Matt Marshall notes that Skype has grabbed a big chunk of the international VoIP calling market, but it would seem the barrier to entry for that is pretty low, no? What are we missing?
UPDATE: Andy Abramson of VoIP Watch thinks Microsoft actually has other plans for Teleo.
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