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CEO: No Timetable for Mobile Skype

By the Betanews Staff | Published September 28, 2006, 2:36 PM

A version of Skype made for mobile phones and networks is far from complete due to a lack of compatible handsets and technical issues, its CEO said. The world's largest messaging network had originally intended to have the service available on Nokia phones last year. "We have no publicly available products yet to offer and I can't give you a timetable," chief executive and co-founder Niklas Zennstrom told the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, according to a translation by Reuters.

"It is challenging and is taking much longer than expected," he continued. While the company does have a version for Windows Mobile in Europe, it is not commonly downloaded. Also in the interview, Zennstrom acknowledged that some mobile operators saw the company as a threat, but added Skype was looking into ways to work together with them on new services.

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SpaceQ
Sep 29, 2006 - 4:01 AM

Its a bit missleading topic of article as windows mobile phones run skype ok (best with processors above200mhz)... Article is about No Timetable for symbian phones!
IMHO it is very connected also to NOKIA which always tries to play nice with mobile operators as it showed with its own IM for mobiles which gave ability operators to control and optionally charge for such messaging. That attempt failed.
Please mobile operators.. get real, simplify life to everybody ... you are just data provider. You can do more by offering additional quality insurance/service/support for some data services but dont try to control/force what data services customer is using.

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templar™
Sep 29, 2006 - 7:33 AM

Yeah. This statement is completely untrue:
"While the company does have a version for Windows Mobile in Europe, it is not commonly downloaded."

Skype for Pocket PC has been available for download worldwide for some time now. Here: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/mobile/

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templar™
Sep 28, 2006 - 11:23 PM

I have tried Skype on my Windows Mobile Phone (over wifi). Good stuff.

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dougggg
Sep 28, 2006 - 4:21 PM

You know the mobile fone companies are not going to want their VERY LUCRATIVE monthly fee$ to go away anytime soon!

Doug

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