Looks like AOL is the next to join the Voice over IM race in earnest, following Google’s recent announcement of the release of Google Talk (still technically in beta – but isn’t everything at Google). Yahoo! and Microsoft are also expected to make similar announcements in the near future.
AOL’s Total Talk service looks to provide some very nice features — PSTN termination (i.e., users will be able to call a traditional telephone in the real world, as opposed to only users of the same IM software), E 911 and three-way calling.
It will be interesting to see if the announcements from Yahoo! and Microsoft measure up, and if this helps chart the direction for where Google Talk will go (or where eBay will take Skype for that matter).