VoIP wants to cut the computer cord

Mark Bruk, a frequent business traveller, always packs a Plantronic headset with an ear bud and microphone so he can plug into any computer and make phone calls on the cheap.

Once he finds an Internet connection, he only needs to download a piece of software, or 'softphone', to make the call using voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, technology. The software, created by his own company, takes about 30 seconds to download and, presto, he's making a call.

Of course, Bruk, chief executive of VoIP provider CounterPath Solutions, drinks his own Kool-Aid when it comes to phone technology. But he's also a cutting-edge sort: he's using broadband Net access and lightweight software to save big money on his telephone calls.

Bruk, whose company supplies audio technology to Yahoo, argues that it's only a matter of time before people across the US will be able to use VoIP-enabled softphones on a mobile device. Web surfers are already warming up to PC-to-PC voice dialling in popular instant chat applications from AOL, Google, Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo.

The big question, however, is how exactly do all these companies plan to deliver a VoIP service beyond the PC and onto some sort of mobile device?

"Will it be their own network and phone -- or is it a branded service with someone else's equipment?" asked Scott Urlick, president of RedTie, a media technology consulting company in Seattle.

The industry has been buzzing about the future of VoIP since eBay announced it would spend $2.6bn in cash and stock on the acquisition of Skype -- the pioneer of consumer software for voice calls on computers. Adding to the frenzy, Google also has entered the VoIP market with an instant chat and voice application, and it's testing a Wi-Fi consumer service that could help it deliver phone and information services to wireless devices.

The Skype buyout shows that technology executives are betting that consumers will soon change how they make phone calls, reducing the need for a phone service from a traditional provider such as BT. VoIP essentially turns telephone calls into just another piece of software running over an IP network.

Rumours are already swirling that Google is developing its own software and hardware for a Google phone. It's not too difficult to imagine a piece of software as a plug-in for Apple's iPod -- turning it into the iPhone -- or a personal digital assistant becoming a PDA-phone.

In Korea, Samsung sells a 3-megapixel digital camera that appears to be a normal digital camera, but when a person slides the back of the device down, there's a keypad for making calls. Ubistar, another Korean company, is selling memory sticks that store from 64MB to 1GB, preloaded with a softphone. It comes with a microphone and earphones. Bruk, for example, carries a USB key loaded with his company's software so he can plug it in to any computer and avoid an Internet download.

Jeff Black, founder of TalkPlus, said he is talking to all the portals about branded offerings for consumer VoIP services. TalkPlus sells a software service with features such as ten-person conference calling. It offers privacy controls that let people block business calls after a certain hour but allow personal calls.

Skype lit the fire under this market. In just two years, roughly 53 million people have downloaded Skype's free software to their PCs. The softphone lets people talk to other Skype users anywhere in the world via the Net for free. And more than 2 million people pay a monthly fee to dial from their PCs to mobile or landline numbers.