Telepocalypse

Neither a borrower, nor a lender be

If Skype did implement a payment API, they would suffer from legal problems. That's because the process of receiving money deposits that can be exchanged for arbitrary goods and services is called 'banking'. As you can imagine, there's a bit of a regulatory barrier to entry into this industry!

At the moment that restricts cellular and VoIP operators to offer only third-party payment for information services directly consumed on the phone or PC. So at the very least the operator needs to be aware of the different regulations in each place, and filter the payment options to suitably approved partners and products.

Companies like Vodafone are busy lobbying to have some of the banking regulations eased for low-value deposits and payments. Skype could be an accidental beneficiary of Vodafone's lobbying prowess.

In the meantime, all personal communications services will polarize to one of two price points: free and expensive. The middle ground will be untenable as the cost of legal and regulatory compliance is too high, and each service needs to fund its own payment solution.