When we first spoke to one of Skype’s designers, Niklas Zennstr’m, way back in 2003, he told us that Skype would one day be on most mobile phones. We laughed, but he’s probably laughing now, as it invades yet another major handset vendor in the form of Sony Ericsson, which has agreed to put it into 3 of its top Symbian smartphones this week.
These are not just any Sony Ericsson phones, but its flagship smartphones the Satio, Vivaz and Vivaz pro. Depending upon operator, Skype can work on these phones over either a WiFi or mobile data connection (HSDPA or Edge). The software can be downloaded now from skype.com/m and will also be made available on the Sony Ericsson PlayNow portal later this month, the Sony Ericsson app and content store.
Skype for Symbian will enable users to make free Skype-to-Skype calls anywhere in the world, offer low cost roaming on both texts and calls abroad, send Skype IM messages and share pictures, videos and other files to other Skype users and borrow contacts from the Skype address book.
Russ Shaw, General Manager, Mobile at Skype said, ‘We see a huge demand for Skype on mobile. The users want to keep in contact with the people that are important to them without worrying about the cost, distance or whether they are away from a computer. It is our goal to meet this demand and make Skype available on a wide range of mobile devices by entering relationships with operators and handset manufacturers. Just a few weeks ago we have announced Skype for Symbian. Now, we are very pleased to bring it to Sony Ericsson smartphones and enable more people to take the Skype features they love with them on the move.’
Skype was first made available on a phone from 3 UK back in 2006 on both a Nokia N73 and the Sony Ericsson W950i. Both were Symbian phones and were launched as 3 UK broke the mould on flat monthly data rates, a move which many operators have since followed. At the time it was an isolated move by a single operator, but now Sony Ericsson has come around fully to the idea.