Yahoo Outsources to Jajah

Jajah just landed a deal to manage VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls for Yahoo! Messenger. Beginning in the third quarter of 2008, the web-based telephony company will add the Internet portal's 97 million users to its own base of 10 million Jajah customers. 

Whether or not users will notice the difference is unclear. (Source: marketwire.com)

While both services use pre-paid credits, the pricing system is slightly different. Yahoo, for example, charges less than Jajah for U.S. long distance, while the reverse is true for international calls. Of course, neither service can compare to the rates you get from an old-fashioned calling card, but the novelty and ease-of-use make these services valuable to their users. (Source: pcmag.com)

One of the great things about Jajah is the ability to use your own phone and create local numbers for friends around the world (think of it as tiny url for global long distance). Yahoo! Messenger 's "Phone In and Phone Out" service, on the other hand, is PC-bound and requires Yahoo's IM platform.

If the deal includes the novel approaches that have already made Jajah popular, then the combination of Jajah and Yahoo may give Skype, who just released a downloadable client for mobile phones, some serious competition. However, Skype is still far ahead, claiming a user base of 309 million.

Of course, if Microsoft comes out the victor in its attempts to purchase Yahoo, the entire deal could be rendered obsolete. The Redmond-based company may prefer to use its own voice services. (Source: businessweek.com)

Jajah, an Internet startup with backing from Deutsche Telekom and Intel, has other big partnerships in the works with traditional phone companies, wireless carriers, cable firms, and others. The company plans on announcing these deals in the near future. (Source: informationweek.com)