Skype Announces Partnership with Nokia
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Skype announced a partnership with Nokia, saying that they intend to go beyond the personal computer and reach more mobile users. Beginning the third quarter of 2009, Skype software will come pre-loaded onto some Nokia N-series phones, beginning with the upcoming Nokia N97. With Skype pre-loaded on the handset and integrated onto the address book, Nokia N-series users see which Skype contacts are online, and send them instant messages or make low-cost calls using the Skype VoIP infrastructure rather than through their GSM network. Skype-to-Skype calls will stay free, while SkypeOut calls will still remain as low cost as ever.
It should be interesting to see how mobile network operators will receive Skype’s new offering. If heavily used, Skype could make a serious dent in the calling and texting revenues of mobile carriers. Not that I’m particularly concerned about that – as a consumer, I’m happy to know that VoIP is becoming more and more accessible to mobile users.