Skype is a software program created by the entrepreneurs Niklas Zennstrm and Janus Friis. The Skype Group, acquired by eBay in September 2005, has headquarters in Luxembourg, with offices in London, Tallinn, Tartu, Prague and San Jose, California. Skype experienced rapid growth in both popular usage and software development since the launch, both of its free and its paid services.



There are several factors that have influenced my own personal move, but my primary motivations were innovation, quality, and marketability. VoIP has always been an application that is easily marketable, and Skype has added innovative features that are quality-rich:

- SkypeOut, where you can use your computer to call ordinary phone numbers all over the world. The global SkypeOut rate is currently 1.7 Euro Cent (about 2 US cents or 1.1 pence) per minute to more than 20 countries.

- SkypeIn, which is a virtual phone number your friends can call. This is in beta testing at the time of writing this review, but the 12-month subscription is available for ? 30 and 3 months for ? 10.

- Skype Voicemail, which lets you redirect calls to your voicemail, is available at ? 5 for 3 months or ? 15 for the year.

However, the most widespread application of Skype is PC-to-PC calls. Any user can make free calls over the Internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It is a simple wizard-based process to download and use the application, and works via your broadband connection with operating systems based on Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, and Pocket PCs. All you need is a PC microphone and speakers or a basic USB headset, and what you get is a real-time, telephone-quality voice conversation with any PC end-user in the world. I found the downloading to be extremely simple and straightforward and imagine that anyone, no matter your computer fluency will find it easy as well.

In addition to its ease of setup, the features of Skype are really impressive. There is a facility to search the Skype database, so that you are able to build a list of contacts. We have used Skype for Windows 1.4 for a PC-to-PC conversation between Los Angeles and Mumbai (India), and there was no recorded break in the half-hour call. The clarity was definitely on par with a normal telephone, perhaps even better, with no noticeable time lag. On subsequent calls between these destinations and other US cities including Chicago, the quality continues to amaze us, and the fact that Skype works in most environments, irrespective of firewalls or NAT, widens its reach.

AOL and Google are also planning to add VoIP technology to their messenger services. So, Vonage's position in the VoIP market is expected to come even under more pressure in the upcoming quarters. Whether Vonage can come up with its own knocking out punch against its rivals is remain to be seen. But, the VoIP market wars are bound to get even more interesting in the upcoming months.