Google has just released Google Talk, which is an IM client (not very interesting, though it does use the Jabber protocol) and an internet telephony service (much more interesting, though only a Windows client is available).

In the Voice over IP (VoIP) market Skype is king at the moment, and it is what we use to communicate between all the members of Untyped. However Google has the clout to seriously challenge Skype. Two important steps by Google: they are supporting the open SIP protocol, and actively seeking to integrate their service with other VoIP services such as Gizmo Project, giving them potentially a much wider reach than the closed Skype protocol. It looks like this market is going to get very interesting in a hurry. Now where are the phone companies in all of this?