Commoditizing Voice Communications

Om Malik is portraying the steadily increasing reach of Voice Communications through Instant Messaging Clients, as one of many ominous signs further spelling out significant upcoming challenges for many traditional voice revenue models:

Over a longer term, what this trend of constant commoditization of voice, will manifest itself in a whole new meaning of “voice.

Many surmise this trend will globalize itself far beyond the desktop PC once friendlier handheld IP-enabled devices hit U.S. consumer markets, as they already have in many countries such as South Korea. Could we see a major comeback of "thin clients" in the U.S., much to the dismay of Microsoft's thick desktop-bound cash-cows? Could the computing powerhouse PC of today simply be a very temporary, albeit powerful and convenient testbed for IP communications and messaging? Malik and Microsoft Geek Robert Scoble duked it out.