Skype launches unusual cell phone
eBay division Skype and mobile phone group 3 have launched a mobile handset that allows Skype users to make free Internet calls to each other while on the move. The companies said on Monday the new 3 Skypephone could also send free Skype instant messages, and that they hoped to sell “several hundred thousand” units worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.We are optimistic that if you look at one or two years, (we will sell) millions rather than hundreds of thousands, but in the fourth quarter (2007) we are looking at several hundred thousand worldwide,” Frank Sixt, finance director of 3 owner Hutchison Whampoa, told reporters.”
The phone is being launched in nine markets including Britain, Australia and Italy, with a rollout in other countries under consideration. In Britain, the phone will cost $102.6 on a pay-as-you-go basis, and will be free for 3 contract users. It will be on sale in 3’s stores beginning November 2. Sixt said the phone’s non-Skype fees were the same as on its other phones, with call minutes and texts priced the same way, and the phone will have a special Skype button. He added on a conference call that he expected the launch to boost the group’s 246 million-strong registered user base, as the service was now available to people without computers. “We think there will be significant interest from those who aren’t on Skype as it is so easy to set up. You don’t have to have a laptop,” he added.
Source: Reuters
Comments(10)
They look lame.
at least they have 3G
So does that say that if you have two people with them, or mainly call people over Skype, that you could go P.A.Y.G. and never use up minutes or am I reading it wrong?
Nevermind, looked it up elsewhere. You have to put $21/mo on your phone with P.A.Y.G. to keep using the free Skype-to-Skype.
so after a while you got 1000s of dollars on your mobile you dont use because you can call for free?
@JDR: You’re question is very suitable. I think $21 per month is way too much for a “free” service…
You should remember that the skype service is free, but transfering data (skype phone call) isn’t.
It already sounded too good to be true. I currently use $5 per month, looks like ill never get a cheaper deal with a better phone. (Nokia 3510i now)
They look like SE mobiles to me.
today i bought this phone its charging at the moment but i got free skype to skype and free 3 to 3. plus the phone is quite light so its quite nifty