I’m not usually one to do advertising for big corporates – unless I happen to work for them – but this just dropped into my mailbox and although totally inapplicable to me, I suspect it may be momentous:

From: noreply@news.skype.com (Skype)
Subject: Free calls to any phone within the US and Canada with Skype

Calls to friends and family on Skype have always been free. Now we’ve made calls within the US and Canada to all phones totally free till the end of the year.

Starting from today it doesn’t matter if it’s a Skype-to-Skype call or a call to landline or mobile phone – it’s free as long as you’re calling from within the US or Canada to US or Canadian phone number.

I wonder if the IP telephony market is mature enough for this to work? Whether enough people are happy to shout at their PCs? In any case, it’s sure to cause a news storm.