For Skype, One More Headache Called Yahoo

The ink on the $4.1 billion eBay-Skype deal is almost dry and already competitors are lining up to rain on Skype’s parade. If the regulatory/incumbent problems were not enough, here comes news that Yahoo will soon upgrade its Messenger’s dialout/dial in features to compete with SkypeIn/SkypeOut.

Essentially what this means is that Yahoo users could use their IM client to dial-in/out to old fashioned phone networks or cellular networks, along with new SIP-based VoIP services. (By the way, Yahoo’s hasn’t announced this service officially, and a few news publications jumped the gun!) Yahoo is not “launching a brand new VoIP service, instead it is offering an upgrade to what was available and will aggressive market the service. PC Magazine has some pricing information.

Users can receive unlimited domestic calls for $2.99 a month or $29.90 a year, and they can purchase prepaid voice credit in $10 and $25 increments.