Skype eyes Video over IP

As I read on Vnunet, Skype is looking "to expand its range of free and low-cost voice over internet services with the launch of a video calling offering in the new year". Once again, perfect (and not so coincidental?) timing following Microsoft's announcement yesterday.

Of course it is PR, but the article has a point in underlining that Skype's way of going with an in-house, proprietary protocol (instead of adopting the standardized Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)) was motivated not only because of SIP's technical hurdles (which were actually substantial when Skype started in 2003 - and are still there to some extent) but also a consequence of the low consumer-demand for it. If Skype chooses to become more involved in providing B2B digital telephony, it will certainly have to find a solution to leverage on legacy and other incompatible infrastructure in the corporate world, but this (much-debated) decision of not adopting the de facto technology nevertheless stresses on the importance of consumer-focused and user-driven innovation in the ICT world.