AOL targets Skype with free numbers

Stan Beer
Sunday, 07 May 2006 21:06

IT Industry - Strategy

Giant online service provider AOL has aimed an internet telephony solution squarely at rival eBay's Skype market. The new AOL telephony solution offers the more than 40 million users of AOL Instant Messenger service a free telephone number which incoming callers can use from an ordinary phone.

Skype offers a similar service which costs $38 a year.While AOL may not have Skype's 100 million plus user base, 40 million is nothing to sneeze at. In addition, unlike Skype, which time charges outgoing calls to to the telephone network at a rate of 2.1 cents a minute in the US, through its SkypeOut service, AOL will offer a flat rate monthly subscription of $14.95 month for an unlimited amount of time charged calls to a wide range of countries.

In some countries, the flat rate charge will also apply to mobile phones.Like Skype, the AOL internet telephony service will be free from PC to PC. However, having a free phone number for incoming plus the a low flat rate charge for outgoing calls is a great incentive for ordinary telephone users to swap over The move puts pressure on Skype to respond in kind and the ball is now in the court of the eBay owned company.
The one thiong that has not been mention, however, is whether the AOL service measuresup to Skype in terms of voice quality and availability.