Last year Microsoft announced that the existing VOIP partnership with Verizon would be terminating in 2008. Currently this service allows Windows Live Messenger users to call friends and family using regular landlines and mobile phones, but this functionality is set to expire over the next few months.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson, this service will terminate on the following dates:

    * EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) - July 15th 2008,
    * USA - August 31st 2008.

They confirmed that so far, no replacement service has been identified.

    “Microsoft is actively investigating a successor to Verizon Web Calling in Windows Live Messenger in EMEA and the U.S. and hopes to offer the service again in the coming months. We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers.”

So what does this mean for Microsoft’s VOIP strategy? Its been disjointed, lacked development and made no visible progress over the past 2 years, and now we have the prospect of the service being discontinued indefinitely. However there is some hope on the horizon.

At the end of last month, Mary Jo Foley talked about a service codenamed Echoes. She explains how the different aspects of this project are expected to function with the help of network operators, in particular regarding the synchronising of contacts to and from all mobile devices, and enabling text message (SMS) to IM conversations. In addition parts of Echoes throw light on Microsoft’s own VOIP platform plans:

    Step 1: “Echoes will assign a local mobile number to each Windows Live contact”
    …
    Step 5: “Voice calls can be connected through Echoes directly from the mobile to the Windows Live Messenger user’s PC”

Mary Jo mentioned this new functionality shipping with Windows Live Messenger v9 betas, following on from the TAP trials being undertaken in Europe and Asia over this summer. Swisscom and TeleNor are allegedly some of the EMEA partners, with trials in Asia rumoured to be using Starhub (#2) and M1 (#3). Anybody in these countries heard anything about the testing going on? If so drop us an email, we’d be interested to hear how what’s going on.

Given the expected v9 ship date of Q4 2008 however, it seems like a somewhat tall order for Microsoft to ship a working VOIP platform and cross-partner systems integration in just a few months. Echoes seems to be perhaps a more realistic aim for Windows Live Wave 4, which would mean Microsoft needs a stop-gap VOIP provider for the next 18 months. With only 1 month left to run in EMEA, anybody care to guess when the service comes back online?

Perhaps not the most helpful comment, but all I can say to that is "meh".  Skype has perfected that, just like Google has perfected search. 

I have a friend who has dedicated the last ten years of his life to get his foot through the Microsoft's door -- beta testing, participating in volunteer programs, earning MVP status while still in highschool, making connections, doing MS internships.  He grew up loving Microsoft like other kids loved Power Rangers.  He is about to graduate from college now and has a job offer from MS he will probably take, but he is not excited about it anymore.

It came last week, after the G2 iPhone announcement.  I never expected him to tell me he has realized that Microsoft leads only in the 900lbs gorilla way, in part because he is the last person I would expect to accept and admit that, in part because I am the last person I'd expect him to admit it to, given the many years of arguments we've had about it.  However, that is exactly what he did, and he said it because it is true. 

Microsoft has brilliant people, but between their obsession with a platform rather than focusing on specific products, bureaucracy and shortage of innovation at the top, they will never make a better iPhone.  Or a better Skype.  Or a better search engine than Google.

Thus, "meh".  Did anyone even use the VoIP functionality loss of which you are lamenting?

[OFF TOPIC]

Adeptus, there are also other IM clients and other operating systems for your PC.

My point is that, yes, there are other companies who already did something, but the point of this VoIP communication integration is... it is integrated in Windows Live Messenger.

That means the user doesn't need a second app and doesn't need other accounts for communicating in another way. For the common user this is good news and a good thing which MS is trying to do. They would be able to call someone by just knowing their Windows Live Id.

Of course MS also tries to gain more footground in various industries and markets, that is what any healthy company would do, and even needs to do. MS is also far from short of innovation though (especially "on the top")! That's a major misconception. Don't judge MS by just one very small software product (WLM or whatever). Without the stuff MS does and without their massive efforts to innovate we wouldn't have a lot of products (software and hardware) which we have today. The R&D department of MS is huge and MS has a lot of assets to effectivly make something new.

[/OFF TOPIC]