Another SKYPE challenger is on the market. iTalk2U out of Texas has released a softphone client for on-net p2p communication.
The service, which seems to be based on h.323 with some added bells and whistles on top like video and file transfer seems to be more of a voice based instant messaging client that IP telephony to me.
Being able to do Voice over the Internet on a point to point basis without PSTN termination is old hat.
As an FYI, Skype now has SKYPE-OUT in beta offering cheap calling. Once again, so what. Michael Robertson’s SipPhone has had this type of service around for a while and has termination all around the world.
Robertson, who is the master disruptor has really not been overhyping, instead he has been building a business and likely is focused more on carrier relationships for termination and consumer distribution, which if you haven’t noticed are the two ends of the business model.