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Microsoft and Skype announce new software for Windows mobile phones

February 14, 2006

Both Microsoft and Skype made announcments at 3GSM demonstrating their commitment to Windows mobile phone devices. First, Microsoft Office Communicator now has a mobile version that extends the reach of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005's real-time collaboration features to Windows Mobile-based devices. This is a smart move by Microsoft and could help them achieve more market penetration of the Live Communicator client, which has been very slow in my opinion, especially when compared to Skype.

The reason? Well, Live Communications Server is certainly more business-focused than Skype, which has a consumer-focus, giving Skype a distinct advantage.

Posted in Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Skype, VoIP

Skype wants to be my Valentine

February 13, 2006

Skype wants to be my Valentine. I feel so loved! Skype's PR firm, sparkPR FEDEXed me two Skype headsets along with a mini CD containing the Skype software in two shrink-wrapped packages, as well as three mint candies with the words "Skype Me" on them. The packages say "Call Someone You Love. Speading the love over Skype is free forever. So you can talk to your sweetheart for as long as you like." Thanks for sharing the love, Skype. Right back at ya!

Posted in Skype

Nokia 6136 dual mode phone

February 13, 2006

At the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia unveiled the Nokia 6136 UMA device, which can switch seamlessly between GSM and WLAN networks, thus enabling users to make calls via the Internet. The UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) technology will enable operators to deliver voice and data services to subscribers over WLAN access networks. In other words, find a WiFi hotspot and make Internet calls over the WiFi connection instead of over the GSM network. The news didn't specify what type of VoIP applications are supported on the Nokia 6136, so it is unclear if this phone supports Skype or any other popular VoIP application

The 6136 is a quad-band phone that will connect to GSM networks at 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz, which means it will work in the US and Europe.

Posted in Mobile Phones, Skype, VoIP, Wireless

Skype 3GSM news including Skype Mobile on the HP hw6900

February 13, 2006

Some Skype news from the first day of 3GSM in Barcelona that a Skype PR representative shared with me. First, HP is announcing that the new HP iPAQ hw6900 supports Skype Mobile for Pocket PC. The hw6900 looks just like the hw6515 that I drooled over, with a 240x240 TFT screen and integrated keyboard. The hw6900 is a bit heavier(6.33 oz vs.

Posted in Skype

SkypeWeb integrates Skype with websites

February 9, 2006

Skype has announced SkypeWeb, a feature that shows others your presence status on the Web and is being integrated into many Web sites and blogs enabling site users to talk for free and better manage communications. According to Skype, Bebo.com, the #1 Social Networking site in the UK according to Neilsen/Netratings, is just one of the Web sites using SkypeWeb. It also integrates with SixApart's MovableType. SkypeWeb was in beta for awhile but today it's for general release. After some further thought, I'm a bit ho-hum on this news since if you use the HTML code to share your Skype presence information on your website(s) anyone can see your Skype presence and your Skype username. I get enough Skype spam calls as it is, so do I really want to share my Skype username with the entire Web?

Posted in Skype

Intel dual-core + Skype = 10 person conference

February 8, 2006

Intel is working with Skype to add features to the Skype software with features exclusive to Intel's dual core processors. The collaboration has resulted in support for a 10-way conference calling optimized for the Intel dual core processors (Intel Centrino Duo or an Intel Pentium D processor). The conferencing feature takes advantage of the multi-tasking capabilities of Intel dual-core processors, Intel said at a Skype page within its website. Currently, 5-way conferencing is the max on non dual-core and AMD chips.

Posted in Skype

SIP to Skype gateway breaks Skype's Great Wall of VoIP

February 6, 2006

Dal over at Asterisk VoIP News forwarded me an interesting link last week on a project he's been working on that creates a gateway between Skype and Asterisk or any SIP-based client. As most techies know, Skype uses a proprietary protocol and does not support inbound SIP calls. If you ask Skype CEO, Niklas Zennstrom why Skype chose their own proprietary protocol, (which many reporters have asked him), he always gives the same canned reply - that they chose their own proprietary protocol because SIP doesn't do everything they need, SIP has issues traversing firewalls, our proprietary protocol is more flexible, blah blah blah. Even though there are now NAT traversal solutions for SIP that perhaps didn't exist a couple of years ago, Skype still hasn't moved to SIP and it doesn't look like they will.

Posted in Skype

eqo's Mobile-to-Skype buddy list solution

February 5, 2006

eqo (pronounced same as 'echo') came to TMC to pre-brief me on their mobile-to-Skype buddy list peer-to-peer (P2P) solution. Essentially, eqo acts as the "glue" betwen online communities such as LinkedIn, MySpaces, orkut, or Skype with mobile carriers such as T-Mobile, Cingular, Vodaphone, etc. Their architecture is a patent pending core IP that uses proprietary call signaling, that is P2P-based and cross device/network domain. It leverages mobile data (SMS) to control the signalling and the mobile voice network for the media stream to the mobile phone, so you don't need the Skype client running on your cell phone.

Posted in Skype

Skype, Google, Microsoft and Cisco all in one panel

February 3, 2006

The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland assembled quite the star-studded team of technology gurus and CEOs from Skype, Google, Microsoft, and Cisco to discuss IP communications. This included Microsoft's Bill Gates, Cisco's John Chambers, Google's Eric Schmidt and Skype/Ebay's Niklas Zennstrom. Now that is some technology panel! I wonder if they were all cordial to one another considering how competitive they are.

I also wonder if Niklas Zennstrom actually flew to Switzerland to participate or if he is concerned about being arrested there as well for his ole' Kazaa P2P file-sharing gig.

Posted in Google, ITEXPO, Microsoft, News, Skype, VoIP

ZyXEL dual-mode GSM/WiFi phone

February 1, 2006

ZyXEL has a dual-mode GSM/WiFi handset phone coming out soon running Windows Mobile 5.0 and will feature a removable SIM card for use with any carrier that supports GSM. The real kicker is that it will also have Skype pre-installed on the ZyXEL dual-mode phone, which will enable this phone to bypass expensive cellphone minutes in favor of an inexpensive (or even free) Skype VoIP connection using WiFi.

I wonder if there is a specialized version of Skype or even a specialized dialer on the ZyXEL that will detect if you are in a WiFi zone and routes the call over Skype instead of over the cellular GSM connection. I actually learned about this phone at ITEXPO last week (another great reason to attend by the way) and have been trying to acquire photos of this new product. Stay tuned.

Posted in Gadgets, ITEXPO, Mobile Phones, Skype, VoIP

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