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Skype, 3 Team Up For Mobile VoIP |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Tuesday, 30 October 2007 |
Skype and 3 Australia are part of a global roll-out of the new
Skypephone which enables free Skype to Skype calls and instant
messages. The new phones are expected to be available locally before
Christmas and will be available either for free on a contract or
outright for A$179 RRP.
The 3 Skypephone is still a fully-featured 3G mobile phone, but has
Skype built-in. This means it can still access 3's other content
services and makes normal calls too, but the Skype functionality is an
added benefit. The phone has a 2 megapixel camera, mp3 player, mobile
TV and internet, and weighs just 86 grams. 3 describes it as "small and
shiny" and available in black or white with blue or pink trim.
The handset was developed by Skype and 3 in partnership with Qualcomm,
using Qualcomm's BREW platform to enable Skype to work with core
handset features such as address book and messaging.
The Skype functionality is accessed by pressing the phone's large Skype
button, giving users access to 3 million registered Skype users in
Australia and 246 million worldwide.
The free calls are not unlimited however, but you'll be hard pushed to
use the, 4,000 minutes of free Skype to Skype calls and 10,000 free
Skype chat messages each month.
"People like using Skype and enjoying free calls on their PC, so why
not set Skype free on the mobile and in a way that's really easy to
use," said Nigel Dews, CEO 3. "This is simply giving people what they
want, and challenging the traditional phone company view that dictates
customers get charged for everything they do, with access to VOIP on
the mobile being essentially off limits. We believe that's
fundamentally flawed and wanted to make Skype on the mobile as easy and
free as it should be."
According to Chris Lewis, Head of Business Development & Marketing
Asia Pacific at Skype, "With the 3 Skypephone, Skype is now truly
mobile. It's extremely easy to use and with free calls, Skype is
taking what we led with the PC, to the mobile. 3 have always been a
great challenger of the norm and have taken it a step further with the
3 Skypephone. It's the kind of approach you'd only expect from 3."
"The 3 Skypephone is perfect for people already using Skype but who
want to be mobile or for people wanting to start taking advantage of
free Skype calls," said Noel Hamill, Director Sales, Marketing and
Product, 3. "It's a fantastic looking phone, is great value and has
all the functionality you need for talk, text and chat as well as
accessing 3's content. It's got mass appeal."
John Delaney, principal analyst at Ovum points out that 3's competitors
have taken a lot of flak for their "alleged hostility towards customers
using VoIP" on their networks.
"Now here comes 3, not only encouraging its customers to use VoIP, but
bending over backwards to make it easy for them. That this initiative
is being taken by 3 is no coincidence, of course. As the smallest and
newest of the UK mobile operators, 3's best hope for growth is to
disrupt the status quo wherever it can," he said.
"We think 3 might have something of a hit with the Skype Phone," he said. But to get it off the ground, "3 will have to do a lot more
marketing follow-up than it did with the X-Series," warns Delaney.
"X-Series was
launched with some serious hoo-hah almost a year ago, but it hasn't
been promoted very effectively since then. However, the Skype phone has
two advantages over X-Series as a market proposition: it's simpler and
more focused; and its target market is wider, encompassing people who
just want to make phone calls, and can't/don't want to spend a lot of
money on their phone," said Delaney.
  
3 Skypephone also includes:
- Fully integrated Skype functionality with contacts, call logs and presence.
- Access to Java and 3D games
- 2.0 Megapixel camera
- Internet browsing
- Bluetooth
- Weight: 86g
- Size: 100 x 44 x 13.6mm
- Battery Standby: 202 Hours
- Battery Talk Time: 199 Minutes
- Battery Video Talk Time: 118 Minutes
- Screen Size: 2.0" QCIF (176 x 220)
- Screen Colour: 262K Colour TFT
- Internal Memory: 10MB
- External Memory: Expandable to 1GB microSD
Handset includes:
- Battery 1150mAh
- Battery cover (magnetic)
- Personal stereo hands free kit
- USB cable
- Mains charger
- CD-ROM for PC connection
- 512MB micro SD memory card
- 3 user guide
- Quick start guide for Skype
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