Yahoo launches cheap voice service

Yahoo is expanding its voice services, adding features that will let customers make calls to and from PCs and phones for a penny per minute.

The move puts the Web portal more directly in competition with services like Skype, which was recently bought by eBay. Several other companies, including heavyweights Microsoft and Google, offer PC-to-PC calling.

Many bloggers saw the low pricing as Yahoo's way of playing hardball, signaling that it would make it tough for any company without deep pockets to play in this market.

Blog community response:

"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."
--Om Malik's blog

"What impressed me the most about this product announcement--aside from Yahoo's obvious determination to launch a global product to go after Skype--was the opportunities it offered for integration into Yahoo premium services like Personals and Fantasy Baseball as either product upgrades or new revenue streams."
--Susan Mernit's Blog

"Yahoo is probably wanting to get their Yahoo VOIP system rolling and widespead before Meg Whitman revolutionizes Skype to the eBay demographic and Google begins adding similar features to Google Talk."
--SearchEngineJournal