Yahoo towards VOIP?

The battle for the consumer VOIP market is heating up, with one analyst predicting Yahoo will launch a new Internet telephony service within the next two weeks, reports Silicon.

Safa Rashtchy, Internet analyst with Piper Jaffray, said in a research note that the new service will be similar to the popular VOIP application Skype, which uses peer-to-peer technology and allows calls between computers and standard telephones.

Rashtchy expects Yahoo to launch a basic service with advertising and "potentially" a paid-for premium service.

"VOIP is fast becoming the 'killer app` of the Internet and this move should push Yahoo ahead of its competitors," he wrote in the research note.

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Market research firm In-Stat says it expects dual-mode cellular handsets to drive the mass consumer market to the eventual adoption of VOIP services, reports InternetNews.

In fact, the firm predicts 66 million users will sport WiFi handsets by 2009 and 73% of customer VOIP subscribers will use the devices.

Currently 2% of customers subscribing to VOIP use dual-mode smartphones.

"The key to capturing the market for these next-generation personalised services is control of the end-point device," Keith Nissen, an In-Stat senior analyst, said.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software maker Frontrange is on the lookout for a new breed of partner as it readies to launch into the VOIP space, reports Reseller News.

Paul Petersen, senior director for Frontrange, was in New Zealand last week to meet with existing partners including Savio Solutions and Olympic Software.

While his company is focused on building up its key resellers, it is also interested in hearing from traditional PBX resellers who want to adapt to VOIP, he says.