The worst-kept secret in the industry — that Yahoo! will be diving head-first into VoIP — is the biggest non-news news I’ve heard in a while.
Of course Yahoo! will offer VoIP! (They already offer PC-to-PC.) So will Google. So will Microsoft. If Excite were still around, I bet they’d be on the bandwagon too!
Actually isn’t Excite now part of Ask Jeeves?
In fact, there you have it. That’s MY HUGE VoIP RUMOR OF THE DAY: Ask Jeeves will someday offer a VoIP service. AJV… Ask Jeeves VoIP… Ask Jeeves to Call Someone…
While I’m at it, let me offer the following breaking news/rumors/hype: All of these entities will offer VoIP, probably wireless VoIP, someday:
- Coca Cola (VoIP: It’s the Real Thing)
- Disney (The Mouse that VoIPed)
- Apple (Think. VoIP.)
- Exxon/Mobil (Free minutes with every $200 of regular unleaded)
- Marlboro/Philip Morris (I can just see the Marlboro man with a cigarette in one hand and a dual-mode handset in the other)
- Major League Baseball (This VoIP call to the bullpen brought to you by Skype!)
- SONY (you’ll have to use a proprietary input device though)
- Nike (Just VoIP it.)
- Lexus (The world’s first luxury packet-based communications network)
- OnStar (wait… this may already be in play)
- Travelocity (Roaming Gnome Phone Home!)
- Heineken (It’s all about the VoIP)
- Paris Hilton (VoIP's hot...)
There’s dozens more.
Maybe the big hint that made people connect Yahoo! with VoIP was the fact that Yahoo!’s Brad Garlinghouse will be making the speaking rounds this Fall, speaking at several venues including addressing the largest VoIP audience ever when he delivers his keynote remarks at Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO this October.
I grant you that it is exciting that this caliber of company is embracing VoIP, but c’mon, it’s no secret.
