As Skype Fiddles, Competitors Crank Up

As Skype continues its dreamy foray into social networking, local search, expert services, and web surfing (Stumble Upon), other online communications companies are cranking up to focus on...online communications.  According to BusinessWeek, for example, Skype-partner Intel has just helped pump $20 million into Skype-competitor Jajah--which, unlike Skype, offers the convenience of making calls using regular telephones.

Skype's lead in PC-based VOIP is safe for now--no less a competitor than Yahoo launched a competing service a while back and has been met with a collective yawn--but the company's seeming desire to focus on anything but telephony is making it vulnerable. Taking down the traditional telco industry will yield a massive pot of gold for whoever ends up doing it. There are still plenty of problems to solve before this happens, however, and none of them involve local search. (Hat tip to Jason Jones).