Is Skype the most important advance in telecommunications since the telephone?

Alexander Graham Bell probably had no idea of the doors he was opening up when he invented the telephone. Imagine Mr. Bell trying to wrap his head around an iPhone or a BlackBerry. The inventors of Skype, on the other hand, probably realized after creating their software application that it would make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. Talking over the Web as though you're on a cell phone? Being able to see the people you're talking to via video feed? Now, that's simply amazing. And as far as I can tell, when done on a computer-to-computer basis, it's completely free. (My brother and his wife recently moved to Italy, and Skype is the only way I've been able to stay in touch with them on a regular basis.) This leads to me to believe that Skype—at least from my perspective—is even more amazing an invention than the iPhone or BlackBerry. I can't talk on my BlackBerry to my brother for free. And the video technology doesn't exist yet for the BB. Will people start ditching their phone bills for Skype? If I were phone companies, I'd be really, really scared.

—Posted by Will Levith