Predictably, Skype is finally going to offer voice mail. It’s been one of the most requested features since the beginning. According to their beta Skype voice mail page it’s not going to be a free service either:

How much will the Skype voicemail service cost once it’s launched?
Exact pricing details have yet to be finalized. You will be informed of the subscription costs before the beta testing period ends.

This is positioning Skype to one day go after services like Vonage. I’ve been a longtime fan of Skype, but will I pay for voicemail on Skype? Hmm, good question. Haven’t yet paid for SkypeOut minutes. I’m curious what type of pricing this will be and it does seem a bit disturbing, encrypted or not, from a privacy angle that these messages are first being saved on Skype servers. I don’t think people will like messages being saved anywhere but on the recipients computer, as it should be.

And lastly the first word from fellow Skype fan Stuart Henshall who wrote about this back on January 18:

I keep saying that the audio quality is one of the things that differentiates Skype. Now it differentiates their VM capability too. It sounds better than what I get on my cellphone or pick up on the home answer machine etc. Skype adoption continues because the audio is better and thus conversations are ultimately more enjoyable.