Martin asks if Skype is a Telco, I think they are.
(TELephone COmpany) A company that provides telephone services
The definition makes no mention of owning physical infrastructure or it’s own circuit or switched network. Skype is a Telco in that it provides a Telephone service, but it doesn’t have it’s own national or international network.
But the real problem is Skype hasn’t provided the necessary platform — be it Liberty, OpenID, or whatever — to let 3rd parties use their authentication system
Neither have GoogleTalk, MSN, Yahoo etc. yet we’re all able to use services such as Fring, Meebo etc etc (with an element of trust) and sue the underlying frameworks of services such as GoogleTalk and Skype without actual going any where near the actual application.
The bit I don’t like is that Skype is a proprietary ‘standard’ and the lack of interoperability is why SIP based services will take a hold. SIP is the Voip Standard and now built into (most) Nokia and Windows smartphones. So users can get free/cheap VoIP calls using SIP on their handsets. SIP may also be the standard the enterprise that they work for also uses, allowing the same devices to connect to the enterprise voice network too.
I don’t see Skype as true VoIP, although it is by definition. But as many users comment, one moment is superb next it’s rubbish. Could this be where intelligence within the network comes in. QOS allows SIP traffic to be prioritized. Therefore VoIP calls have a mechanism by which a standard quality is being attempted to be maintained.
But we’ll see, Skype has a big enough user base to be around for a while yet.
