Skype and VoIP

TJ alerted me in this post to the fact that I might be underestimating Skype. This comes in relation to my last post on the subject. I will gladly stand corrected, but for now, I am just not sure. Of course Skype is very powerful, I do not doubt that, but it is not a standard. I might not know enough about the Skype internals to really bring a final qualifying verdict, but from what I know now, it is not SIP and therefore not the standard the world is moving to.

I know about the Skype bit of the PocketPC, I am sure they will do a Symbian Version at least when Nokia’s new 9500 Communicator comes out with WiFi. There are real opportunities for Skype, no problem with that. The real problem is that there are a lot of VoIP providers (I have started a list of them here for Germany) and that you will have tons of phones for that, tons of client software, tons of innovation we haven’t thought of yet. Think of a least cost router that has 20 different VoIP accounts in different countries and routes your calls always via the local service for cheapest rates. There is lots of stuff there and stuff that Skype cannot compete with because it is a closed system.

Sure, Skype will be big, but that’s not really the point. The other stuff will be bigger. And I already have some problems with Skype, the biggest one that it doesn’t keep my contact list on the server. I need to add my contacts again and again and again and I do have different PCs.