What I did last summer

I should stop going away on holiday. Every time I do there is either a major natural disaster or some major industry news. This time there were both. Just my luck that, having speculated so much about Google's intentions in the voice market, the Google Talk announcement came while I was away. Still, it's a very interesting one (Jabber, federation projects with Vling and Sipphone, and a Gmail message notifier within Google Talk - how long will it be before this is all tied nicely together with Blogger, Picasa, et al?). Microsoft then countered with Teleo. Skype opened up and made a fascinating announcement with E-Plus. E-Plus is, of course, KPN on the offensive in Germany, getting into bed with the enemy in an effort to improve its market position (interesting that there is apparently no release from KPN). Does this mean we can expect T-Mobile Netherlands to strike a similar deal? I tend to doubt that this is the sort of deal any legacy telco would be eager to replicate on its home turf. When one does, we will know the tide has truly turned.