Skype joins the IM war

MySpace's IM and Skype app has been released from beta with both companies planning to use each others significant market strengths to broaden their respective distribution footprints.

MySpace is hoping its integrated IM/Skype client will fuel growth for its instant messaging product which it says has 25 million users and is claimed to be the fastest growing IM client in the world. This comes as the IM market begins to consolidate, with Yahoo now being integrated into Microsoft's Vista and Google exploiting its stake in AOL to offer AOL's popular AIM client with Google's email client, gmail.

Skype is seeking to ride off MySpace's strength in the U.S. as it tries to build its distribution in North America, where the VoIP operator has been traditionally weaker. Most telephone companies offer free toll calling within the U.S. which has dampened demand for both the free and paid VoIP service. My Space has seen its dominance of the social networking space erode with the recent surge of popularity for Facebook. Facebook users can also access Skype through a mash-up which enables Facebook users to call using Skype.

All the corporate moves and product alliances in the IM and VoIP space represent a general convergence of the social networking, messaging and web voice sectors into one "portal," which is generally expected to see social networking and messaging merge into a general utility.

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