Skype is
setting conversations free and making them mobile with its announcement of
support for a wide variety of new wireless devices and accessories. By doing
so, it is delivering a new mobile Skype(TM) experience for consumers and small
business users wherever they are.
Skype has worked with a number of its hardware and software partners to bring Skype
functionality to an increasing number of mobile products that use a variety of
wireless network connections to access the internet. This includes offering
mobile support for Skype's free instant messaging and voice calling among the
more than 246 million registered Skype users, as well as its premium features,
such as SkypeOut (cheap calls from Skype to traditional landlines or mobile
phones anywhere in the world) and SkypeIn (a personal and portable Skype number
that people can call you on wherever you are in the world).
Some of the new wireless devices and accessories being demonstrated :
-- 3 Skypephone - Introduced together with mobile operator 3, this new
affordable mass market 3G wireless handset lets users make Skype-to-Skype calls
and send Skype instant messages from their mobile phone to other Skype users no
matter where they are.
-- Freetalk Wireless Stereo Headset - This new Wireless Stereo Headset, enabled
by the new AvneraAudio technology, delivers CD-quality sound and the freedom of
hands-free Skype calls at any time. It offers superior range (up to 20
meters)compared to technologies such as Bluetooth, freeing you from your desk
to make and receive the full range of Skype calls while moving throughout your
home or office.
-- Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices - Mobile users will be able to make
Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages on the move, while
harnessing the PC-like performance of Mobile Internet Devices based on Intel
low-power processors and chipsets. This new category of small, truly mobile
consumer devices with WiMAX and WiFi capabilities will enable free
Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and cheap SkypeOut calls to be made on
open wireless networks.
-- Nokia N810 Internet Tablet - The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet is a sleek,
pocket-sized WiFi device with a slide-out keyboard which frees Skype users from
their desktop, allowing Skype-to-Skype conversations and SkypeOut calls to take
place in any WiFi connection, including thousands of Boingo Wireless and
Earthlink WiFi hotspot locations.
-- mylo Communicator - Skype comes pre-installed on Sony's mylo personal
communicator, COM-2, so users can call or instant message any other Skype user
all over the world for free over an open WiFi connection. Users of the mylo can
also make cheap SkypeOut calls and receive SkypeIn calls.
-- PlayStation Portable handheld entertainment system(PSP-2000 series) - With a
simple system software update slated for late January, PSP users worldwide will
be able to make free voice calls to other Skype users, see which friends are
online and available to talk, and - with the purchase of Skype Credit - make
cheap SkypeOut calls and receive SkypeIn calls.
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