Posts Tagged ‘Skype’
May 5, 2009
Last week, our friends at mobile carrier 3 - purveyors of the Skype-enabled X-Series handset line and needs-no-introduction 3 Skypephone - announced their newest plan to mobilize the Skype Nation. They’ve opened up their network to allow all 3 customers with a compatible 3 handset to make unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls - for free.
The official decree from 3:
“From 1 May, there will be no data charges or top-up fees for either contract or pay-as-you-go customers who use Skype on 3’s network. Anyone with a 3 handset will be able to buy a 3 SIM with Skype enabled and talk as much as they want to other Skype users without ever having to pay another penny.”
This is what we like to think of as a win-win (and, well…-win ) situation: 3 customers can bask in the veritable free calling bonanza, Skype’s user base will fatten-up, and 3 should lure some new users onto their network as well (not such a bad thing for 3’s revenue-sharing partners either!)
VentureBeat posted a piece last week which credited 3 UK as reporting that Skype pre-pay users give the operator 20% higher margins than ordinary pre-pay users, and that the Skype offering is driving user uptake, with 79% of all of 3’s Skype users new to the network.
VentureBeat speculates that “[t]he higher margins may very well boil down to the use of iSkoot, which routes Skype on to the voice circuit-switch rather than the more expensive data network. This, argues the company, makes the service less of a data hog than operators traditionally fear VoIP to be.”
While this blogger doesn’t Skype and tell, I WILL go on the record with this: Skype + circuit switch is, as always, the flag we’re proud to fly.
Posted in: New Things, The Word on Mobile VoIP | 1 Comment
Tags: 3, free calls, Skype
August 13, 2008
The ball is rolling, people.
While the phenomenon that is “Voice over IP” has been around for ages, it’s really only found a happy home in the non-technophile vernacular in the past 5 or 6 years. Our friends over at Skype put VoIP center stage with the launch of their PC-calling software back in ‘03 - a service so fabulously handy and easy to use that (as of this summer) more than 309 million registered users have gotten on the Skype train worldwide. Michelle Robart, an editor at TMCnet, suspects that even still, the large majority of VoIP usage happens in the hands of businesses and fresh-faced, early adopter types. Indicating as much in her recent piece, “VoIP for Baby Boomers and Generation Y,” Robart endeavors to rally the broadband-compatible 55+ demographic to join in on the fun by offering some essential knowledge around the options for and advantages of a VoIP-ified lifestyle.
And oh, how far the VoIP conversation has come. Where 5 years ago the average reader was liable to identify the word “skype” as a typo, these days the first order of business seems to be “So how do I get this PC-calling goodness on my cell phone?” Michelle Robart is all over that one:
“Use your cell phone to make Skype calls with iSkoot. You can still take advantage of the free or discounted calls with Skype, but you don’t need to be sitting at your computer to make them.”
Truer words… 
Because let’s face it: You don’t need to be sitting in front of your computer. We’re coming in fast and hard on the days of Web 3.0’s “ubiquitous connectivity” and putting the communication revolution where it really belongs - on mobile.
Posted in: The Word on Mobile VoIP, Uncategorized | No Comments
Tags: iSkoot for Skype, Skype, TMCnet
April 24, 2008
CNN.com’s technology journalist Cherise Fong highlighted iSkoot today in a piece called “The Revolution Will Be Mobilized,” which looks at the myriad of ways that friends and family stay connected on their PCs, and what’s being done on the scene today to transfer that connectivity to the mobile world.
Cherise points out that when it comes to Voice over IP, “it’s clear today that Skype itself is the big winner in the VoIP game.”
Cherise noted that:
“Most recently, iSkoot has extended its partnership with Skype, following its collaboration with mobile operator 3 for the global launch of the 3 Skypephone in October 2007, which was the first mass-market Skype-enabled handset as a carrier-integrated solution for mobile-VoIP IM services.“
That new partnership is geared up for us to deliver more cool new products like the 3 Skypephone to more more places than ever in the coming year. Mobile revolution, here we come!
Posted in: 3 Skypephone, The Word on Mobile VoIP | No Comments
Tags: 3 Skypephone, agreement, CNN.com, Skype
April 21, 2008
Pat Phelan, telecom blogger and Cubic Telecom entrepreneur, joined the growing ranks of 3 Skypephone fans recently, as evidenced by his latest post, “Skype returns to its telecoms roots.”
Pat also expressed some serious enthusiasm about today’s announcement from Skype regarding their new unlimited long-distance calling subscriptions. Skype’s new calling packages enable users to place unlimited calls to a number of select countries for just 10 euro a month!
Pat says that whether you’re enjoying the unfettered mobility of the 3 Skypephone, or taking advantage of these great new unlimited calling subscriptions with Skype on your PC, all in all Skype offers a truly irresistible calling solution these days.
In his words, “These packages are certainly going to make me re-examine my Skype usage, couple this with the excellent quality I have been getting on my 3 Skypephone lately and its time for a package change on my Vodafone corporate account.”
Posted in: 3 Skypephone, New Things | No Comments
Tags: 3 Skypephone, Pat Phelan, Skype
April 15, 2008
Eyeing Skype’s somewhat conspicuous lack of public commentary since new CEO Josh Silverman came aboard, our friend Andy Abramson over at VoIP Watch has taken matters into his own hands, cooking up a handful of projections for we can expect (and what Andy eagerly awaits!) to see on the Skype horizon.
With suspicions of a new beefed-up developer program and hopes that Skype revives last year’s “unlimited bundle” in place of Skype Pro, Andy also anticipates a lot more action in the mobile Skype department, spearheaded by iSkoot’s MVP executive roster!
In his words: “I’d expect to see more of the Skype Mobile play develop. iSkoot is on a roll with a new management team so sooner or later that has to benefit Skype.”
Armed with a new partnership aimed at unleashing iSkoot’s Skype-branded mobile products on a whole slew of new territories, we’re happy to tell Andy - that’s the plan.
Posted in: Management Team, The Word on Mobile VoIP | No Comments
Tags: Andy Abramson, Skype, VoIP Watch
April 9, 2008
We gotta say, the last 365 have been pretty exciting for iSkoot. On the flip side of new leadership, new partnerships, carrier & OEM distributions, and a collaboration to launch the first-ever dedicated Skype handset, we’re looking forward to forging ahead into some new telecom territory.
iSkoot’s mission emphasizes a workable, “outside the box” approach to mobile–a philosophy we consistently draw from as we strive to bring compelling, world class products to the market. The iSkoot-powered 3 Skypephone has been the truest expression of this idea to date — a device that benefits both the carrier and the consumer because it is–and isn’t–a “VoIP” phone. The remarkable success of the device also reinforces our fundamental belief that fully-integrated, end-to-end community solutions are the future of mobile.
In the pursuit of this idea, we’ve already gotten a couple of milestones under our belt: We’ve partnered with Cisco–the world leader in IP networking solutions–on the back end, integrating iSkoot’s application into the Cisco carrier server and enabling operators to bridge the VoIP user community with mobile voice networks. On the front end, we’ve partnered with Skype and 3 to power the 3 Skypephone, a breakthrough device that delivers a seamless, user-centered Skype experience on mobile.
In year ahead, we’re definitely aiming to keep that momentum high. After all, it’s innovative top-to-bottom technologies that are poised to reshape the mobile space. Just you wait and see. 
Posted in: New Things | No Comments
Tags: 3 Skypephone, Cisco, Skype
April 2, 2008
On the heels of our successful collaboration with Skype and mobile operator 3 to launch of the 3 Skypephone — the first ever mass-market Skype™-enabled mobile handset — around the world, iSkoot and Skype have just committed to extending our partnership further!
Under a new agreement signed yesterday, iSkoot will have certain exclusive rights to offer Skype-branded mobile software enabled by our iSkoot solution to mobile carriers in Argentina, Greece, Israel, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey. Providing an end-to-end client/server/gateway solution, our products will deliver mobile Skype voice functionality based on iSkoot’s one-of-a-kind, circuit switch-to-VoIP technology.
The word from Skype’s GM of mobile and hardware devices, Gareth O’Loughlin: “For nearly two years, iSkoot has been working with Skype to deliver Skype on 3’s mobile network. With iSkoot, we enabled Skype on a wide range of handsets on 3’s network and most recently launched the 3 Skypephone. We are looking forward to building on our partnership to bring Skype’s mobile offering to more of our users.’
We here at iSkoot are definitely looking forward to it as well, and are thrilled at the milestone of this exciting new agreement. As our founder Jacob Guedalia points out, ‘This agreement with Skype underscores the commitment to our partnership and the success that partnership has built over the past two years.”
And a big two years it has been. Driven by our rich new commitment, it should be a very big year ahead as well.
Posted in: New Things | No Comments
Tags: 3, agreement, Skype
