Report: triple-play cable VoIP slowing growth of IM-based VoIP

To me, the most interesting part of research firm In-Stat's newly published findings that more than 10 million U.S. homes now have at least one active VoIP user is not that round number.

It's the fact that the growth in VoIP subscriptions from cable companies- many of which offer these services as part of triple-play (broadband access and tv) services, seems to be limiting the growth of IM-based services.

In-Stat refers to such entities as "client-based" VoIP providers. 

This from TWICE, (This Week In Consumer Electronics), a Reed Business Information magazine cousin of Reed-owned In-Stat:

"According to In-Stat, “client-based” VoIP providers such as Yahoo! or AOL have seen their growth slow thanks to cable’s ramp-up. The only client-based service to show gains through the fourth quarter of 2006 was Skype, the firm reported. Skype has increased its lead, the firm said, while other competitors in the client category have lost ground."

Maybe that's because some of these client-based VoIP services haven't quite figured out how boldly to promote their own offerings at the expense of ticking off potential legacy services phone companies and triple-play cable allies?