RSSPSP to finally become a communications device with Skype
By Tim Conneally | Published January 4, 2008, 11:19 AM
On a site dedicated to building up excitement over its announcements at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony inserted language all but confirming the rumors of Skype for PSP.
Sony's site gives new credence to rumors of Skype for the PlayStation Portable -- rumors which date back to June 2006: "Call friends, talk trash to fellow gamers or catch up with acquaintances via Skype for PSP."
Traces of VoIP functionality were found earlier this year in the PSP's firmware 3.10 on QJ.net, with a decryption of the update pointing to a nonexistent file called "skype_plugin.prx."
Both Sony's and Nintendo's handhelds have been considered by software companies as potential Wi-Fi voice-over-IP sets since their inception, but few plans have come to fruition.
Last year, rumors emerged of Vonage developing Wi-Fi calling services for PSP, which were never confirmed. Such services may eventually see the light of day, now that Vonage can move beyond the patent infringement cases that bogged down the company in 2007.
Some VoIP telephony software has already been made available for the Nintendo DS, such as HelloDS, utilizing the Wi-Fi and built-in microphone capabilities of the diminutive system. But these amount to little more than homebrews at present, with no major software or telecommunications company support.
........psp's have microphones?
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Yep, they do, the Socom Headset.
Although the Skype application will only be available for the PS2000 (Slim) and not for the PS1000 (classic) due to memory usage
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Why? Does anyone really want to use their PSP as a cell phone? Seems dumb.
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Dumb to be able to use the 3 PSPs my family already has as free cell phones wherever we have WiFi coverage, which for us is plenty of places?
I was in Paris last summer, which has WiFi all over the city. I was already carrying my PSP around, rather than heavy guidebooks and maps. I could have saved money on roaming charges to my family back in the U.S.
And my kids so seldom use their cell phones that the PSPs with Skype could replace their phones.
Just because you don't have a need for it, doesn't mean that nobody else does. Clearly lots of people do.
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Woot! .. this opens source for a future jailbreak app in the ipod touch !
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I hope we will see Skype on the PS3 aswell!
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