If it is up to Skype, iChat, and the other video/audio and chat software in existence already, undoubtedly the answer is yes.

With the inclusion of a front facing camera on the iPhone 4G and HTC Evo, as well as many of the upcoming tablet/slate devices.  It seems that VOIP calling and Internet communication are solely set to take over and remove the need for specific phone to phone minute usage tracking and in that vein, lossen a stranglehold that the cell phone providers have had on customers for years.

Interestingly enough, some carriers are intelligent enough to have possibly realized this was coming and prepared with unlimited usage plans like T-Mobile’s $79.99 (no phone subsidization upon renewal) and Sprint’s $69.99 contracts.

Full article at Gizmodo

AIM is not much to look at.  It is a monotasker (to borrow the word from Alton Brown) and not a pretty one.  It is available for Mac, but is largely unused because iChat, which has the advantage of being both pre-installed and located on the default Dock, uses the AIM chat protocol.  On the PC front, AIM has steadily lost ground over the years as all-in-one IM clients took over.  Chat wars haven’t been a big thing for years, when Yahoo! and Google (which launched Google Talk soon after GMail) and Microsoft and Aol (then AOL) each jealously guarded their chat protocols to prevent interoperability.  The upshot was inconvenience for the user.

MSN Messenger still exists but only as a casualty of the Chat Wars (much like MSN).  Yahoo! Chat still boasts a hearty user base.  And Google and Aol have had an uneasy detente for the past several years, with interoperability in the chat window in GMail as well as in Apple’s iChat.  But now with Google moving once again into the Social Networking field, old truces may fall and new alliances like Aol and Facebook form.

Let us not forget that Google is also in some very nasty fights against Apple and Microsoft.  Google’s Nexus One looks to unhorse the iPhone (that has yet to be seen).  It is working on an OS called ChromeOS which would naturally go against OSX and Windows.  And speaking of Windows, Google also has its own browser to fight Internet Explorer (Microsoft) and Safari (Apple) available for Windows and in beta form on Mac, where Safari holds a lot of traction.  On the Search front, Google is fighting against Microsoft’s Bing!, which, it should be noted, could in theory be supplemented if and when Microsoft manages to buy out Yahoo!

So there sits Google, fighting battles on too many fronts to name and starting more fights of its own.  As I’ve previously stated, I’m not a fan of AIM by any stretch and giving it Facebook functionality won’t make me want to install it on my Mac.  However, this is a prime opportunity for Apple to ride in on a white horse and do a deal with Aol and/or Facebook to add Facebook to iChat.  I’ve been a Mac user (I use all platforms) for over four years.  Since then, I’ve felt that the iChat UI is simply the best-looking interface for chat.  I’ve used Pidgin, Adium and even Trillian years ago.  But, pixel for pixel, iChat works nicest.  On the iPhone, BeeJive, in my opinion a must-have app, works so nicely in no small part because it uses the iChat UI.

The Aol/Facebook alliance provides a unique opportunity for several companies, each fighting their own battle with Google, to strike a blow.  Aol can update not just its client but its protocol to allow for multiple instances to run (opening GMail won’t knock out your iChat connection).  Facebook can give its users another reason to keep a Facebook tab open by having AIM right there.  Apple can get some more pixels from the press by updating a program that is starting to gather dust.

These are all some minor things that Google’s adversaries can do to maybe get Google to rethink its expansionist ideas.