Phone Boy has a great post in GigaOM today answering the question “Is there money in Voice APIs?” I simply can’t let it go by without comment.

I’ve been covering the VoIP space since 2004, and lately it seems like every other press release sent my way is from a company announcing the addition of an application programming interface (API) to its telephony platform. The promise of APIs is that they make it easy to integrate different services — even those provided by different vendors — into a single application. The press release from one carrier even went so far as to claim that its API would “boost innovation and development of new apps exponentially.”

But is simply providing an API to your telephony infrastructure enough to prompt the world to beat a path to your door? Don’t count on it.

Indeed.  I’m working on a report with Jon Arnold and Marc Robins on exactly this topic, so I’m not going to spill all the beans here, but here’s a taste of how I would answer that question:

1. From a  technology perspective, there is no better alternative to voice applications built on APIs, and for most applications, there never will be.  I mean that in terms of reliablity, performance and economics.  Voice APIs address a fundamental architectural problem to which there is no better solution.  I predict that practically all voice minutes from operators and service providers will traverse a web services API in the future, so the question isn’t so much is there money in Voice APIs, as all the money will be in Voice APIs.  The question is, why will my Voice API be used over the others?
2. Every large operator has established relationships with large Enterprises, to whom they deliver specialized applications.  In time, they will all use the Voice API of their operator.  Lots of money there.
3. The more important part of a Voice API is the API part, not the voice.  Operators will evolve to become providers of many services, not just voice.  IfByPhone and Jaduka are fantastic examples of companies climbing the API food chain.

I’ll leave it at that, or we’ll have nothing to sell.  Geoffrey Moore was right as he identified the chasm, and Voice APIs are no different.  Developers and companies will not beat a path to your door if you simply have an API.  You need a complete product, which is more than an API. It’s an API, a developer program, a compelling business case for you AND your customer…

Shoot. Somebody’s knocking. I think it’s Jon.