VoIP penetration among US businesses will increase rapidly over the next few years, reaching 79% by 2013, compared to 42% at the end of 2009, reports In-Stat. This penetration reflects companies having a VoIP solution deployed in at least one location.

Infonetics Research released its biannual VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers report, which tracks business and residential/SOHO voice over IP services and includes a North America Business VoIP Services Leadership Matrix that analyzes and ranks the top service providers in the VoIP business services market.

The report shows that demand for residential and business VoIP services continues to grow even as spending in other communication areas tightens. For the first half of 2009, the worldwide VoIP services market grew to $20.7 billion. Residential VoIP services remain healthy, comprising the majority of worldwide VoIP services revenue, and subscribers are up 14% from the end of 2008.

Our sister publication FierceTelecom got an interview with Verizon Business president Fran Shammo this week that touched on a number of relevant topics, including the division's hosted VoIP business, security plays, and overall business communications services spending. Shammo sees strong growth in the hosted VoIP business, and he said while business services volumes are decreasing and equipment purchases are down, the focus on cost savings has opened discussions in other areas of Verizon Business' markets. 

For more:
- see the full interview here

Average selling prices in the UC desktop market, which has been holding steady over the past six months, dropped slightly in Q1 2009.
This weakening indicates the growing competitive nature of the industry, according to the authors of a Synergy Research Group report on the global market for collaborative applications.

The IP telephony endpoint market will be affected by the economic downturn - despite the fact an increasing number of enterprises are recognizing the benefits of both IP desktop phones and enterprise soft clients.
That's the conclusion of Melanie Turek, principal analyst at Frost & Sullivan, which has just released its latest global study of the sector's enterprise market.

Research and consulting firm The Radicati Group released a study today predicting the hosted unified communications market will generate $2.3 billion in revenue in 2009, a number that will jump to nearly $5 billion by 2013. The report, entitled "Hosted Unified Communications Market, 2009-2013," breaks out revenues by vendor and region.

The report--which analyzes providers including AT&T, Microsoft, DoCoMo and Skype--predicts growth will occur in the small business market, where entrepreneurs will increasingly switch to hosted offerings to simplify deployments and maintenance.

The Radicati Group's report comes on the heels of two other studies on the hosted UC market, one from Infonetics and the other from Frost and Sullivan, that predict similarly robust growth for the sector. 

For more:
- see the press release here 

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Sprint announced today the availability of its new unified communications solutions through its Business Markets Group. In promoting the new offerings, Sprint trumpeted its partnerships with Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and others and its "leadership in wireless-wireline integration."

As part of the release, Sprint announced it is can offer SIP trunking and mobile integration with Cisco's Unified Communications Manager, IBM's SameTime Unified Telephony platform, and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2.

"Enabling unified communications is a cornerstone of Sprint's strategy to serve the rapidly evolving and increasing demands of the business and government market via our dependable Now Network," said Paget Alves, president of the carrier's Business Markets Group, in a release. "Our customers operate in a complex environment, but they need just the opposite in their communications experience. We are converging wireless and wireline technologies into an unprecedented user experience that is fully mobile, flexible, feature-rich, simplified and cost-efficient."

In the release, Sprint also touted the $6 million it has saved using the unified communications solutions internally.

Sprint's Business Markets Group is a significant revenue driver for the company, as the group provided almost $4 billion in revenue in the first quarter.

For more:
- see the press release here
- see the Business Markets Group earnings results release here 

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Microsoft is to ban apps that enable VoIP services over carriers' networks from its Windows MarketPlace for Mobile store when it launches in the second half of this year.
The VoIP app restriction is among the 12 application types forbidden in a list of "rules" announced by Microsoft.

LG-Nortel has responded to an expected doubling of IP phone penetration in businesses this year by launching a new line of desktop IP Phones.
Geared towards business users and carrier-hosted VoIP services, JD An, vice president, Enterprise Solutions at LG-Nortel, said the IP Phone 8800 series had been designed to meet rising demand for IP phone solutions from enterprises.

One of the US's largest providers of VoIP solutions, Cypress Communications, is to announce shortly that it is expanding operations into Europe and the Middle East.
After more than 20 years providing managed communication solutions to clients across the States, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company is to extend its network internationally.

As Skype says, so Skype does.  The company has made arrangements to embedded its software on Nokia's newest devices and get a "screen" on the Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1 phone.

Skype's announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain are fulfillment of an objective announced at CES and other venues to have its client pre-loaded and integrated onto handsets to provide better ease-of-use and market penetration. Downloading and working with a client not integrated into a handset is seen as a hurdle to further penetration; if users have to download it and then have to hunt for it on their phones, it is more of a headache. Skype wants seamlessness to the communications experience.

Nokia has agreed to integrate Skype into its devices, starting with the Nokia N-series and the N97 "flagship" device.  The N97 will incorporate Skype in the third quarter of 2009, with Skype as a part of the address book of the phone, enabling presence, IM, and voice calls. Users will be able to see when Skype contacts are online, IM them, launch free Skype-to-Skype voice calls, and use the client to make low-cost Skype-Out calls.

On the other hand, Skype is one of a bunch of new panels added to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 phone over the past two weeks. Users can customize the X1 user interface, bringing the apps and content they want to their active desktop.  Skype's panel brings up Skype on the X1 and provides the functionality you'd expect - IM, presence, and calling.

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The IP phone market is actually a tale of two drastically different markets- business and consumer.
The former is thriving and the latter is diverging in a drastically different direction, according to In-Stat.

i2Telecom has announced that its MyGlobalTalk service is now available for the Symbian S60 operating system.
The service has just been approved for inclusion on Android's Marketplace and has been submitted for approval on the iPhone App Store.

VoIP in India is very hopeful and is witnessing a number of players. This is being said across plausible internet sources and is now supported by the thoughts of Yusuf Motiwala, CEO, TringMe.
TringMe's range of diverse services: Call Widget, Mobile VoIP and use of web-based messengers, has won them a strong consumer base in the last 2 years.
biz-news.com blogger correspondent Jolsna Rajan spoke with Yusuf Motiwala about TringMe's success, its ongoing initiatives and a lot about the status and outlook of VoIP market in India.

The Indian market for VoIP is second only to China amongst the Asia Pacific countries and, with ever increasing numbers of broadband users, has vast potential for growth.
biz-news.com blogger correspondent Jolsna Rajan gives her perspective on the internet communications outlook for the nation.

iSkoot has announced that its mobile application, iSkoot for Skype, is launching in the Android Market.
It is the first VoIP solution available on Google’s new mobile application store.
Available immediately for download, iSkoot for Skype also runs on nearly all major mobile platforms, including J2ME, S60v3, UIQ, Palm, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry.