Definitely a comment that is worth a prop. In addition, I am completely impressed with the lack of lag in the voice calling that I constantly have issues with in Skype.

If you could pick up in Gmail, have solid to no lag, Google could produce a podcaster's wet dream

Skype is obviously concerned but I wonder if this is also part of a longterm "Google Me" strategy against Facebook.

Facebook already has email and chat, so one logical next step would be video chat and then calls. People already list phone numbers in their profiles and when I look at FB contacts through their mobile interface, Calling is always an option.

This is, of course, just speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if both turn out to be true

I suspect it was probably more like Skype rushing to get the IPO done after Google bought Gizmo5. They had to know it was coming pretty quick.