The biggest news in VoIM this week is AOL (hmmm, maybe YAhOoL?) renewing Open AIM, AIM's platform for programmers. With these tools you can build your own AIM client, plug-in, or application on nearly any platform.

• Want to build AIM into banner ads, blogs, MySpace widgets, mobiles? No problem.

• Want to mashup presence, IM and video conferencing? Easy.

• Integrate into enterprise software? CRM services? Painless contracts.

• Want to combine multimodal talk (voice, video, text) in a home appliance? All there. All connected. All documented.

Will this capture the imagination of entrepreneurs? of engineers? Will they choose this proven, scalable, secure platform over open source? over Skype, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Tencent, and Google platforms?

Meanwhile Apple promises to open the iPhone.  Many APIs, SDKs, standard protocols. AOL had AIM up and running on an iPhone in 5 days. Disney, EA, and Salesforce showed iPhone apps. Push email and Exchange integration puts it into RIM Blackberry territory. A $100 million VC fund will invest in iPhone apps/businesses.

I have enormous hope for Skype as a developer platform, especially with the newly unleashed leadership. Josh Silverman, Skype's new CEO, doesn't start until later this month. But he's moving to Tallinn, Estonia, where the development teams live.

Did you know Skype has public APIs for their desktop clients and presence service, and private APIs for commerce? Still, Skype's public API roadmap doesn't come close to the degree of openness, depth and power AOL and Apple offered this week.

Good reads:

• Kee Hinckley, Meebo and Adium developers give their reactions to Open AIM 2.0.
• Mary Jo Foley, Apple finally acknowledges iPhone’s Exchange support
• tuaw's iPhone Roadmap Event Metaliveblog. All the details
• Ryan Block's photos of the Apple iPhone SDK press conference. Good shots of Apple's slides. 
• Hudson Barton predicts "Skype will soon announce that it will be on the iPhone and iPod Touch by the summer of 2008."