Is VoIP the next Big Thing?
The top dogs are betting that consumers will soon change how they make phone calls lessening the need for a phone line from a old school telecoms company. VoIP basically turns telephone calls into data which is transferred via an IP network, and due to this simplicity the future for VoIP seems promising.
From when we were first introduced to VoIP through Skype in the early days the industry has been buzzing. Google has entered the internet telephony market with an instant chat and voice application and is testing a wireless customer service that could help it deliver phone and information services to wireless devices.
The technology companies are already beginning to launch double function products such as digital cameras that appear to be a normal digital camera but when a person slides the back of the camera down, it reveals a full keyboard. Memory sticks preloaded with a softphone are also now available. They come with a microphone and earphones.
Companies such as Google, Yahoo, and EarthLink have already experimented with such technology. Last autumn Yahoo added improved Voice over IP calling to its Yahoo Messenger. Google has also released Google Talk. AOL has told the world it would be providing a VoIP service called TotalTalk. AOL’s TotalTalk will essentially let people replace their traditional landlines. It has advanced communication features, such as unified voice, e-mail and instant messaging, and call-management.
It could be argued the phone companies will face a huge challenge with these drastic changes emerging with VoIP technology.
