With all the talk about a Vonage IPO and its valuation, some people have turned their investment sights on Skype. One estimate by Eurotelcoblog values Skype at US$130-million, or about US$130 per SkypeOut user. I love these type of exercises because you can use whatever metrics and valuations you want to come up with a final number. Given Skype is private and less than forthcoming about its financials, it is difficult to get an accurate idea of Skype's real value. That said, a company is worth whatever someone's willing to pay for it. How much is 100 million Skype downloads or 31 million registered users worth? $1 a download, $10 a download, $5 a registered user. I think the mystery surrounding the valuations of privately-owned companies is what's keeping Vonage on the IPO sidelines. By not revealing everything about yourself, it builds the suspense before someone take the plunge.

With VON Canada starting tomorrow - watch this space for regular updates - it seems like the right time to offer some quick views on how the VOIP service providers stack up. In no particular order:

Vonage: the installation required the most concentration. Definitely not the kind of service you can plug it right away. It actually requires you to read the user manual. Web-based features are comprehensive; prices have dropped, making it a more attractive option.
Primus Canada: easy to install; nice Web interface. The quality of service has been inconsistent, although that may be due to traffic on my Rogers high-speed network. Its premium residential service at $29.95 is the best value on the market.
AOL Canada: VOIP for Dummies - and I mean that in a good way. A snap to set up, simple to understand user interface. Uses an adaptor rather than a router. Still think it's somewhat expensive - a comment that "disappoints" the AOL Canada folks.
Comwave: couldn't get it to work. Go figure.
Bell Digital Voice: I've asked for a demo unit but no response so far. Although it's available only in Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivieres, I'd be happy to test it with a Quebec area code.
Rogers: apparently, I'm going to be early customer after Ted Rogers told his son, Edward, who heads up the cable business, to sign me up. When Ted speaks....

Rumours about that Tivo is begging...er, I mean talking with Google and Yahoo about being acquired. It's a fascinating scenario but I'm not sure how it would actually work. Google has its video beta, which lets people search for TV show information but does not let you play them yet. Would Google integrate its search technology into Tivo and create a future platform for online video-on-demand or online TV-on-demand? Does Google really want to get into the monthly subscription business where it has to beg, borrow and steal to get cablecos to use Tivo? Is the Google brand so powerful that it can resuscitate Tivo? As for Yahoo, CEO Terry Semel has deep Hollywood roots so a move into the TV business wouldn't be a big personal strategic stretch? Yahoo has also strong ties to the advertising community, it's been agggressively moving into the premium subscription business, and it's focused on the high-speed market through partnerships with ISPs such as SBC and Rogers. This means there could be plenty of synergies (as much as I hate that word) between Tivo and Yahoo's various parts. At the end of the day, it's inevitable Tivo will be taken out of its misery. It just depends who does it. Where there's smoke, there's usally fire so perhaps this is a sign the time is coming soon.

Everyone expects Shaw Communications to lower the price of its cable telephony service from $55 a month to gain market share but don't expect it to happen soon. CEO Jim Shaw told analysts that telephony will probably follow the same path as broadband Internet where it did not lower prices despite fierce pricing pressure from Telus. Instead, Shaw will focus on features. There are a couple ways to read into this strategy. Shaw doesn't want to concede just yet that lower prices will be a strategic necessity over time, and/or he really believes Shaw can enhance its service to the point where consumers don't mind paying a premium. You have to give the cablecos credit, they have resisted the siren of lower prices that has lured most VOIP service providers. The big question is whether market forces will allow them to maintain this discipline. If Vonage or Primus or Bell are offering less expensive, full-featured VOIP will Shaw eventually have to relent?