Microsoft Enters VOIP WORLD

Microsoft plans to enter the consumer VOIP Market. While Microsoft does not get the first mover advantage(they are not known for it anyways), its certainly high time for them to jump in. Andy has a long and interesting article on the fallouts.

Combine the facts: the market penetration of Windows in the consumer market is the highest, and that a major portion of the market uses their desktop/laptop running on the Windows Operating System as the base for connecting through VOIP.

This will be a formidable competition and no surprises, if it heralds a new era of consolidation in the VOIP Market. I am also interested in finding out what this means for VOIP penetration in the third world where access to VOIP is limited to the tech saavy only. With the product being bundled as part of VISTA, I think this will change.

Plantronics Launches VOIP Enabled Bluetooth Headset

Plantronics, Inc. , the world's leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of lightweight communications headset products, launched the Plantronics Voyager 510-USB in Singapore. This, they claim, is the first Bluetooth headset system optimized for VoIP. Read the whole story here.