Skype Expands Mobile Capabilities
Two announcements appeared today about Skype mobile capabilities:
Skype and Hutchison 3 Group Join Forces to Offer Skype on Mobile Devices
Hutchison 3 is a 3G mobile provider operating in Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Sweden and the UK. The agreement makes Skype available over Hutchison 3's networks as a value-added service. Today's announcement says that Skype already has 75 million users in the territories covered by Hutchison. If I understand correctly, the Skype offer can come bundled with�a 3G flat-rate subscription, which I think means that you could make unlimited Skype calls riding on top of the 3G network. This sounds like an attractive offer and maybe a bold move on the part of a mobile operator.
The Pocket PC announcement concerns the release of Skype for Pocket PC 2.0, replacing the previous 1.1 version. Today's announcement says the new release, a free download,�offers better voice quality, supports more devices and extends capabilities. Skype says the Pocket PC and mobile capabilities are part of a strategy to extend Skype "beyond the PC."
Today's release outlines the following particular features of Skype for Pocket PC 2.0 (quoted):
- Skype to Skype and SkypeOut calls
- Instant messaging
- Presence, including: Online, offline, away, call forwarding, device not connected
- Automatic synchronization of your Skype contact list between device and desktop
- Voicemail
- Making SkypeOut calls directly from the device phone book
- Simplified contact search
- Authorizing buddy requests and adding new contacts
All-in-all, the Pocket PC announcement sounds more exciting than the 3G-Hutchison partnership. Not that Skype over a mobile phone doesn't sounds appealing, but the Pocket PC just seems like a better environment for Skype calling, given the larger display available on a Pocket PC, and�the more flexible user interface (as opposed to the limitations of a mobile phone), which I think takes better advantage of the multi-modal capabilities of Skype communications.
To give you an idea of the user experience, here are a couple of screen shots from Skype for Pocket PC:
AB -- 2/14/06
Related Tags: capabilities skype, mobile capabilities, skype pocket, skype, Skype, mobile
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