This article is taken from www.betanews.com. -Steve.
Yahoo Acquires DialPad VoIP Service
By
Nate Mook
, BetaNews
June 15, 2005, 11:44 AM
Word leaked out late Tuesday that Yahoo has purchased
DialPad
, a
company
that offers software for making telephone calls over the Internet.
A Yahoo spokesperson
confirmed the deal closed Monday, but would not disclose financial
details. The company
plans to integrate the DialPad service into its product lines.
Yahoo's interest in Internet telephony -- otherwise known as
voice over IP
(VoIP) -- is no secret; rumors the company was in acquisition talks
with Skype surfaced
late last week. Yahoo has also focused on voice communication using
VoIP in the forthcoming
version 7 update to Yahoo! Messenger, which entered beta last month.
DialPad offers subscription plans for placing calls, with individual
to 200 countries
calls costing as little as 1.7 cents per minute. The company
currently boasts 14
million customers, far short of Skype's 40 million users, but still a
prime target
for Yahoo's interest.
Yahoo says it plans to integrate DialPad's technology into its
software within a
few months, but did not offer any specific plans. Yahoo did say that
its acquisition
of DialPad would not sour a bundling relationship it has with SBC for
standard telephone
service.
PC-to-PC calling was first added to Yahoo! Messenger back in 1999,
but the feature
was not a hit among users at the time and was soon removed. However,
Yahoo now sees
VoIP as the current "killer application" the could replace instant
messaging with
text.
Regards Steve,
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Skype: steve1963
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