My guess is that it is still in its skype skype infancy and inevitably will go through a phase where a lot of different companies will come up with different ways to do this. Then inevitably the feds will come in and regulate it. I guess they're charging to make phone calls to cell phones and local regular phones, and that's called skyping out,etc.

Technology skype architecture changes whole industries. The fax machine had a great impact on the mail industry. A few years later email had a greater impact on both the fax industry and the mail industry. The video rental business cut into the movie theatre business. Beta machines and VCR's then cut into the video industry by people making illegal copies of movies. The DVD industry then cut out the VCR industry and now downloading by the internet is cutting into the DVD market.

The implications are obvious, the first being that if you can connect a video phone to it, you can talk and see just about anyone anywhere in the world. There is a drawback, however, and that is that it is most easily used over a broad band connection. The bandwidth of video just does not justify clarity over a 56 k modem.

It used to be every generation or two that a great idea would come that would change every body's lives. Today we seem to be getting one or two every year. Why is this so? Due to globalization, decreasing margins in every business and a rush to be the most efficient, entrepreneurs are inventing new products that can effect every one's lives.

Globalization has changed the way we do business forever. Every market is very competitive. We find the best global place to produce the product, we find the best global place to service the product and we find the best place globally to have our customer service people.

You buy your Dell computer from the internet (replacing a local store), they produce the product in China(replacing a local manufacturing plant) and when you call about a problem on an 800 number, someone in India answers your question (replacing a local customer service person).

The reason we do all of this is that everyone looks for a better price. This is evidenced by us shopping at stores like Walmart and Costco, whose raison d'etre is low pricing.

The last bastien for high margins has been the telephone industry. First they had monopolies over local phone rates. When this was cut they maintained their cash cows in long distance pricing. Ever wonder why pricing was so high. The long distance lines have been there for tens of years.

But one thing for sure, it's not just hype they're talking about, and it remains to be seen if the general public will catch on. We'll see in the next few years.

So I went on Ebay and guess what, they are selling skype phones already. I guess it's been around for about a year already but it's catching on fast. Some of the commercial phone companies are already offering voip phone service.

Capital costs are minimal today to maintain these lines. This is where Skype comes in. Through a VOIP internet connection you can make free long distance calls. All you need to do is download a free program together with your friends, families and business associates and your calls are free. You can also call land line numbers at less than 2 cents a minute. The next revolution is on.

Who are good candidates for Skype? Firstly, students are usually the first adapters to any new technology. Just like they are MSNing their friends right now, a lot of them are switching over to skype to have a more personal call or to call friends outside their local calling areas. The second group are college kids.

These kids are generally budget conscious and far away from where they grew up. Family and friend connections are very important and Skype can reduce their expensive College expenditures. Thirdly, businesses can use Skype to call branch offices at no charge or use Skype to dial out to customers across the country or world at a fraction of their current long distance rates.

I was reading a time magazine article the other day and found that there is a thing called skype phones that was sweeping the internet. The two guys who started it sold their website to ebay and are now very rich because of it.

What am I talking about? It is called voip or voice over internet protocal. It is not a new idea, making long distance calls over the internet for free, the rational being that the internet connections are done through local servers.

Lastly, when was the last time you used your cell phone and got charged their roaming and long distance charges. With new Wi-Fi sites popping up every day and peoples use of lap tops skyrocketing, you simply plug your Skype phone by your USB and start talking free. Imagine being in an airport or restaurant, you pull out your mobile Skype phone and start talking for free. The phones today are as clear as regular phones and offer many of the same features.

My opinion is that audio and video over the internet, especially over a broadband connection will gain popularity. Much like cell phone is pretty common these days, but this is mostly for the internet connoseurs, I fear and could be just a passing fad although the commericial implications are there.

With people and businesses budgets being squeezed it's a natural that Skype with over a billion downloads will continue to grow.

They basically created a way to make free phone calls around the world with just a microphone and a speaker and some free downloadable software.

I always wandered when they will come up with an idea like solar powered video phones that will connect to anyone in the world.

Skype comes pretty close, except that it will be eventually typified as an internet phone service, ready to take that next step of video conferencing which gained a lot of attention years ago.

I guess the question remains is it commercially viable. Will it take on the internet by storm, or is it just a passing fad.