Skype Expands Mobile Capabilities

Two announcements appeared today about Skype mobile capabilities:

Skype Introduces Next Generation Mobile Application for Pocket PC; Software Upgrades and Hardware Relationships Enable High Quality, Mobile Internet Calling for Pocket PC Users Worldwide

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: