SkypeWeb presence

You have to wonder why all the IM services haven’t made it dead simple to add presence to web sites. Yahoo has had it for ages, but this new SkypeWeb API from Skype is much neater—just add an extension or some URL elements, and you get different formats, even localized.

The SkypeJournal, where I found this via Om, even goes on to speculate about a Skype identity/authentication service like TypeKey or Passport, which would be an interesting addition to the space. Already I’m seeing more and more folks move their IM usage to Skype, despite the fact that their client is one of the worse in my experience (I prefer iChat). It’s pretty obvious that voice is a killer app, and the fact that they “own” that space means they can move into other areas. I wonder how far they can take this.