Yahoo buys Dialpad

Am a couple of days late on this - but news is - as of June 14th, Yahoo took over Dialpad Communications. There has been much noise recently about Yahoo and VoIP. The acquisition of Dialpad will allow Yahoo to directly introduce PSTN connection capability to their Messenger. In other words, Yahoo can use Dialpad to provide PC to Phone and Phone to PC services - which puts them at par with services provided by Skype.

This acquisition may trigger responses from "competitors" - namely Microsoft and Google. On one hand, Google's VoIP interests are mostly conjured up by the rumor mills, on the other, those of MS are most obvious. But, it is also fair to say, that it wouldn't be totally surprising if Google ventures into the VoIP space.

But MS itself, must face a dilemma. So far, Microsoft's VoIP ambitions have been limited to being an infrastructure/solutions developer for other VoIP service providers. In case, MS decides to venture into becoming a service provider itself - then it would risk "annoying" some of its current clients.

At the same time, I must say, Yahoo's giant strides must be having its impact on MS's VoIP strategy; and IF, Google so much as hints a VoIP move - Microsoft will definitely take the plunge. Whichever way it goes - this'll make an interesting watch.