...What does e-Bay and Skype have to do with travel anyway?

Well, one truism of the web is that when certain site functions become reasonably established ( consumer reviews, forums, multimedia content)- consumers expect them on every site they go to. e-Bay's purchase is all about recognising that telephony and the interent work well as merged channels- talking to someone via the internet whilst you are both interacting with a site is useful. For e-Bay, having buyers and sellers talking over the internet makes perfect sense- as well as the potential to increase bid frequency: Being able to telephone in a bid from your mobile- just as you're about to lose that crucial 1973 Blue Peter annual (Noakes, Singleton, Purvis in construction hats)- and have that voice bid logged on the site- has user benefits, and will help e-Bay drive bid prices up, which of course underpins their model.

The potential for IP telephony in travel is huge- where consumers often take responsibility for trip research via a site, and then phone a call centre. If the integrated web/voice becomes an established consumer channel (and e-Bay are a pretty good driver), they'll expect it from travel providers. So keep an eye on IP telephony and its applications.

And let us know if you spot that '73 annual anywhere.