“Skype, the Internet telephone unit of eBay Inc., is planning to launch its service for iPhone users on Tuesday,” Sinead Carew reports for Reuters.
“Skype has been pushing to make its service work on the most popular advanced phones with an aim to expending its more than 400 million users who were mostly lured by the promise of cheap and sometimes free calls made using its computer application,” Carew reports.
“Skype Chief Operating Officer Scott Durchslag said he has high hopes for the application’s success on Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) popular iPhone as he expects Skype’s most feature-rich mobile offering to appeal to new and existing customers,” Carew reports.
“‘The No. 1 request we get from customers is to make Skype available on iPhone. There’s a pent-up demand,’ Durchslag said in an interview before the CTIA annual mobile showcase in Las Vegas, where Skype plans to launch the service on Tuesday,” Carew reports.
Full article here.
Rory Cellan-Jones blogs for BBC News, “It works fine – just install the app, tap on the icon and Skype launches with the familiar start-up sound you get on your computer. Your contacts list then tells you who is online – and you can either send them an instant message or make a call. When I tried it, the sound quality was about the same as on any mobile call – and as it was to a Skype contact it was free.”
“But here’s the catch – I could only make the call because I was on a wi-fi network. Apple’s restrictions on the use of its software development kit mean that Voip applications cannot use the 3G network,” Cellan-Jones reports. “The other issue is that the iPhone doesn’t allow you to have more than one application open at the same time – so your Skype buddies probably won’t be able to get you on the phone unless you happen to be in the app when they call.”
Cellan-Jones writes, “Skype is obviously very happy to be on the iPhone. But unless Apple takes a radically different approach to integrating the free calls service into its phone, it’s unlikley to make a huge impact.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
