The VOIP Provider Guide

In what has become an increasingly centric position for online search services, Microsoft is looking to jazz up yet another aspect of their Windows Live Maps service. In recent months we’ve seen the big M trying harder every day to go head to head with Google’s Map monster. Seemingly, the big buzz right now is in knowing where things are in the real world less than the virtual world. And we all know another service that has been a poster-child for internet-real world crossover, VoIP.

Put the two together and what do you have? You have Microsoft Corps. teaming up with Verizon Business to offer VoIP service to its already burgeoning Windows Live Maps service. Verizon is looking to get in on the VoIP market that Vonage and Skype have been laying groundwork for for a few years now.

By integrating VoIP service into a service that so many people are already using on a daily basis Verizon hopes to “make it easy for folks to get in touch with a merchant of some sort with a voice type call,” according to Mike Yancey, Verizon’s Business’s director of wholesale voice product management.

Without any adapters or special equipment, the service will route all calls over Verizon’s SIP Gateway network. It will allow users to call restaurants, shops, and local attractions with the click of a mouse and a working microphone.By streamlining the task of finding what you’re looking for online and allowing a user to directly contact the establishment Yancey hopes to put users “just one click away from the information.”  

Verizon made waves in VoIP last year by cutting the price of its own VoiceWing service to $24.95 directly before Vonage took their IPO public. With a VoIP user base expected to explode to almost 20 million by 2008, Verizon has been taking as many steps as possible to cut into the substantial market share companies like Vonage have been able to carve out. With name recognition and a powerhouse business partner like Microsoft, one things for sure – people will likely use Verizon’s service. But, will they pay for it?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 1:33 pm and is filed under VOIP News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.