SkypeIn - Now It Gets Interesting

Skype has unveiled a new product, SkypeIn, which can allocate Skype users up to three local POTS telephone numbers in one of 8 countries. Skype users can use the local numbers to direct inbound calls to their Skype account. Initially, Skype was definitely limited to the domain of geeks, starting with PC to PC calls only. By later adding the ability to dial out, you could now call Grandma from Skype, but she couldn't call you. With SkypeIn, YOU still need to be a geek with a booted-up laptop or PocketPC device connected to Internet, but Gran-ma-ma can call you on a regular PSTN telephone number, and get through to you wherever you may be. The price for SkypeIn is US$13 for three months and $39 for a year. I often talk about how Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN could be more of a threat for telcos than Skype because of their wide user bases and their increasingly potent IM clients, yet Skype is doubtless the one pushing the technology envelope.

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