Om Malik has "lost it" on the VOIP industry. Spurred on by the flurry of VOIP hardware announcements coming from the Consumer Electronics Show, Om lets it fly at the growing number of phones, ATAs, etc. that are specifically made for a single service provider - be it Vonage, Skype, Microsoft, etc. He calls this too-cozy relationship a "honey pot for the VOIP industry" in which carriers will be forced to subsidize equipment used by consumers - much like what happens now in the cellular world. "At least, the cellular industry has the economics to support this cost structure," Om writes. "In the case of VoIP, the carriers will be spending like drunken sailors, forced [to] eat the costs of the hardware because consumers sure enough are not going to pay for every gee-gaw". Om calls like it like he sees it, and he's right on the mark on this issue.
Update: Andy Abramson takes CES to task for not providing the 6,000 members of the media with free Internet access, particularly in the VoIP area at the Sands Convention Centre. It argues this is one reason the media will cover other kinds of companies.

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