D-on-Net

Skype slapped with patent infringement suit by Net2Phone

The WSJ reported Skype has been slapped with a patent infringement lawsuit by IDT Corp's Net2Phone division.  The report states the U.S. District Court in Newark, NJ filed the suit Thursday, however, Skype has yet to comment because the company hasn't received any of the documents.  The suit claims one of the patents on "Internet calling" Net2Phone holds was infringed by Skype.  Net2Phone is taking the classic stance of trying to immediately stop Skype from further infringement and seeking financial compensation for damages to date. 

In the case of Skype, it is only a matter of time for a company who demonstrates the kind of massive growth and scale they have that they are hit with these kinds of lawsuits.  Assuming the claim is valid this will be another classic fix settled with a chunk of change to make Net2Phone go away while adding additional capital to the already hefty price tag paid for Skype.  It is likely patent attorneys have been lining up at the doors of smaller VOIP players to go after the big guns in hopes of getting a piece of the pie and is a sign similar suits are likely to follow. 

AOL announces AIM Phoneline

AOL has finally announced the highly anticipated FREE AIM Phoneline offering providing AIM users with a local phone number and voice-mail.  AIM pages is also expected to be launched in the coming days and already been dubbed the "myspace" killer considering AIM is the dominant IM client app with a reported 80M registered usrers.  Although, a 3rd party market analytics company reported only 46M used AIM in March 2006.  I bring this point to the forefront because AIM Phoneline and AIM Pages is specifically geared to junior high and high school students, but the release states only users 18 and up are eligible to receive a free local number...somehow I think it is the lawyers that made them put that in there. 

AIM Phoneline has excellent functionality built into its initial release, which is refreshing to see especially considering it doesn't carry the "beta" tag Google adores.  Users can be notified of voice-mails with messages sent to their cellphones and users don't have to be signed onto to AIM in order to receive or retrieve voice-mails.  The client even comes equipped with caller ID, which is a differentiator to-date.  I also like the fact they are offering a flat fee rate of $14.95/month enabling users to call other landlines, and cellphones (U.S., Canada and 30 International countries) and even enables 911 phone calls.  This announcement makes Skype's decision to offer SkypeOut functionality in the U.S. and Canada free through the end of 2006 even more clear as their last ditch effort to gain traction in the U.S. where they only have 6M registered users.  Expect Yahoo to answer the shots sent over its bow by Skype and AIM Phoneline in the coming months.  As for Google Talk and MSN Messanger...they have a lot of catching up to do in terms of VoIP functionality and may need binoculars to see what AOL, Skype and YHOO are doing if they don't get it in gear. 

Craigslist buyers and sellers can now communicate with tglophone

Yet another VOIP player has hit the radar.  Theglobe.com announced today Craigslist buyers and sellers can communicate  by downloading its VOIP app at www.tglophone.com.  According to the press release Craigslist users can download the app and after logging in a "phone icon" will appear next to their items for sell.  Other Craigslist users who have downloaded the app will then be able to communicate via pc-to-pc if they should choose, which is obviously from the same mold as eBay/Skype.  It is interesting that although eBay is an investor in Craigslist that they either did not present the idea to Craigslist or were snubbed.  Regardless of Craigslist popularity, since tglophone is yet another VOIP app needing to be downloaded we view this a meeger step forward considering this appears to be a non-exclusive agreement.  While it is possible tglophone may gain some new users, Skype, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN and Google have no reason to be shaking in their boots.