New Skype Mobile App

IanFogg | April 28, 2008, 12:41 PM

Skype Tests Software for Mass-Market Mobile Phones. It's interesting but not anything like as earth shattering as their press release headline suggests.

The applet offers text chat, buddy list, and incoming and outgoing calling. But the telephony part uses Skypeout credits for a user to receive incoming calls so is little different to simply using the call forwarding option in the desktop Skype application.

Chat and presence requires the use of a data connection -- unlimited mobile internet tariff highly recommended -- so the applet both costs cash for calls, and needs a mobile data package! This isn't the innovative VoIP world that Skype users have been expecting with Skype's long-planned mobile initiative.

The other downside is the handset support. The application is a java applet that works on a selection of mainstream and smartphones, but there are some odd omissions, presumably due to the problems of mobile application development: Nokia's N95 and N80 are supported, but the similar N82, N77, N96 and N81 are not, for now. Hopefully, Skype will expand the range of handsets before taking this out of beta.

For now, independent start-up Fring, is closer in spirit than this to a true Skype mobile application, and works on many handsets.

There's a few other official Skype mobile options: for Nokia Internet tablet users; for Windows mobile users; or for those in the market for a new phone (3's Skypephone) but none of these are ideal mobile applications for various reasons.