It is too early to say, but industry officials are starting to voice cautious optimism.

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Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is starting to voice its concern.

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It is starting to expand into voice telecoms and even the home, with technology that will let all sorts of household appliances connect to each other.

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Now that it's finally got an Android tablet app to speak of, DirecTV is returning its attention to phones: the company announced today that both its iOS and Android applications will be receiving voice search starting this summer.

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But voice-over-Internet Protocol services are starting to catch on as consumers get used to the idea of making phone calls over the Internet.

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In Japan, where even voice mail is still rare, the business is just starting.

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Internet telephone services like Skype and Vonage are starting to look less like digital gimmicks and more like the next generation of voice communication.

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Since broadband links can carry both voice and data, some countries (such as Chile) are starting to subsidise broadband roll-out instead of just concentrating on phones.

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