3 Mobile Launch Skypephone
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3 Mobile have teamed up with Skype to offer free calls across the Internet
using their new Skypephone. The Skype network has, within a very short space of
time, become hugely popular for making free Internet calls through handsets that
are attached to your PC and has built up a large customer base that recently
prompted a buyout by eBay. If popular, this brave step by 3 could prompt an end
of pay as you talk tariffs and push other mobile phone networks into action to
try and offer similar competitive deals.
The new Skypephone from 3 has all the functionality you would expect from a
modern day mobile phone including 3G, a 2-megapixel camera, mp3 player, mobile
TV and internet plus the handset looks stylish and comes in either black or
white with pink or blue trims. The Skypephone includes 16MB internal memory and
comes with a 256MB micro SD memory card which is also expandable up to 1GB. The
large Skype button in the center of the handset allows for quick and easy access
to the Skype menu where you can simply make a free call or write a text message
to people within your friends list.
The biggest challenge for the 3 Skypephone is encouraging people who are not
already signed up with Skype, or whose friends are not members of Skype, to buy
the phone. If this hurdle can be cleared then it could create a domino effect
which would push all other mobile phone networks to provide a similar service
and may make Skype a major player in the world of telecommunications. Once you
are signed up to Skype you will not only be able to call people using the 3
Skypephone but also talk to friends connected to Skype through their PC.
3 Mobile offer the Skypephone on either pay as you go or monthly contract
deals. The payg deal currently costs £49.99 for the Skypephone handset and
requires you to top up your phone with at least £10 credit for standard voice
calls and texts. The contract deals start from £12 per month with a minimum
tie-in of 18 months.
The Skype deal from 3 is also available with other compatible mobile phones
such as the Nokia N95 or the Sony Ericsson W910i which makes the offer a lot
more flexible and doesn't tie customers to a single handset. For none 3 Mobile
customers Skype is also compatible with mobile phones that run the Windows
Mobile operating system, plus it is possible to connect to Skype using Fring (a
third party mobile VoIP application that enables free mobile internet calls and
live chat to other fringsters and PC-based services including Skype, Google
Talk, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Twitter) through a mobile phone with the Symbian
operating system.
This fantastic offer could help encourage a reduction in prices of mobile
phone calls and it is likely that other mobile phone networks will be keeping a
close eye on how the collaboration develops. Flexibility is the key and by
allowing customers to choose whether they make calls through Skype or through
normal network services, the Skypephone should be a huge success.
About the Author
Steven Balfour is the owner a
Mobile Phones
website which compares phone prices from several retailers.
Follow us @Scopulus_News
Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2007-11-09 23:28:38 in Computer Articles
