Microsoft throws down phone gauntlet to Google

Microsoft today directly challenged Google in the burgeoning internet telephony market by buying Teleo, a firm that allows users to make calls from their computers to normal telephones.Microsoft’s acquisition of Teleo, a privately owned firm in San Francisco, was always on the cards as the company’s service is closely integrated with Microsoft products such as Outlook and Internet Explorer.
Microsoft’s entry into internet telephony follows the launch earlier this month by Google, the world’s leading search engine, of Google Talk, an instant message and voice chat service to compete with the likes of AOL, Yahoo and Skype.For more on this read here.