![]() In late June, Cisco announced a tablet device, the Cius, which includes a telephone handset and a port for a wired Internet connection. If Cisco does make an offer for Skype, the deal may have a different target. The carriers have been losing land-line customers for some time now, and if they were smart, they might devise a plan that would allow them to cannibalize their land-line business and move those customers who want it to a VoIP service. Of course, such an offering could kill what’s left of these carriers’ land-line service. (NYSE: VZ) have not endorsed or offered VoIP service for their customers who use PCs. ![]() Likewise, carriers like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VG), both of which have market caps below $500 million. The search for competitive offerings could lead to offers for VocalTec Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ: MSFT) do not yet have VoIP offerings, but will probably need something to compete with Google. Other free email providers, like Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has just released its Call plug-in for Gmail, which offers free calls in North America at least for the rest of 2010, and perhaps beyond. That might be a bit rich, considering the transaction between Ebay and Silver Lake put a value of about $2.75 billion on Skype. Skype is believed to be aiming for an IPO of about $5 billion. Skype claims more than 500 million users and, as part of its IPO filing, reported GAAP profits of $13 million on $406 million in revenue during the first six months of 2010. (NASDAQ: EBAY) sold 70% of Skype to a group of private investors led by Silver Lake Partners in November 2009 after the auction site couldn’t figure out a way to make money with the VoIP service. (NASDAQ: CSCO) plans to make an offer to acquire Skype in an effort to short-circuit Skype’s planned IPO.
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