Skype and Nokia today announced an agreement that will bring a fully integrated Skype client to Nokia handsets for the first time. The client will allow users to make free VoIP calls. Under the terms of the agreement, the Nokia N97 flagship device will be the first to incorporate the Skype experience in the third quarter of 2009.
The Skype client will be included in the address book of the Nokia N97, enabling presence - seeing when Skype contacts are online - as well as instant messaging. Nokia N97 owners also will be able to use 3G and WLAN to make and receive free Skype-to-Skype voice calls, in addition to pay-per-minute Skype calls to landlines and mobile devices.
The announcement leaves some scratching their heads. A Skype client that allows customers to make free, off-network phone calls isn’t necessarily a good thing for operators that carry Nokia handsets.
Allen Nogee, principle analyst at In-Stat, said the move by Nokia is probably just another way to sell more phones on the open market. “It’s low cost to put it on the handset, so why not,” he said. “Nokia’s in a position where they want to sell the most handsets. Overall, they’re going to make the operators mad, but then the operators have the power to take it off.”
In addition to the forthcoming N97 application, Skype is available on Windows Mobile and dedicated Skype phones. Mobile Skype is also available as a "lite" version for Android phones and about 100 other Java-enabled mobile phones from LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. The lite version, still in beta testing, offers only basic Skype features, including voice calling, instant messaging and presence notification, and won't work over Wi-Fi connections, making a flat-rate data service indispensable.