Skype-Ready Phones From Motorola

Hack Jandy writes "Seamlessly integrating VoIP and GSM might not be a fantasy after all, as Motorola announced their decision to build cell phones and handsets that have Skype Internet Telephony integrated into the devices. Obviously, one could use Skype for outgoing calls near wi-fi hotspots (essentially free) but default on GSM for outgoing calls in areas that lack coverage."

Article Text

[perlionex]

Motorola to Build "Skype Ready" Cell Phones, Headsets.
Handset Maker Motorola to Build Skype into Phones
by Anton Shilov

Motorola, a leading maker of mobile phones, and Skype, a leading Internet telephony company, said this week at 3GSM World Congress that Motorola would launch a lineup of products that are dubbed "Skype Ready", including cell phones and handsets.

The two companies will explore opportunities broadly across both companies, leveraging Motorola's strength in seamless mobility, advanced technologies, mobile devices and accessories and Skype's rapidly-growing global user base and rich voice and messaging communication tools. The initial focus of the collaboration will be on co-marketing of new optimized Motorola "Skype Ready" companion products, such as Bluetooth headsets, dongles, and speakerphones, as well as delivery of the Skype Internet Telephony experience on "select Motorola mobile devices".

Peculiarities and specifications of "Skype Ready" products were not touched upon.

Skype takes communications to a new and global era with its free, multi-faceted and rich communication tools, enabling users to make free, or very cheap, voice calls and rich messaging connections via the Internet. Skype currently has more than 25 million registered users.

While headsets, dongles and speakerphones are natural enhancements for PCs or PDAs that have Skype installed on them, cell phones with Skype capability may usher a new era in mobile communications, as whenever users have Internet access, e.g., via WLAN or GPRS, they will be able to make long-distance calls at a price much lower compared to that offered by cellular network operators. Still, the cost of GPRS traffic from some operators particularly in the EU is very high and may limit benefits Skype provides in terms of cost.

Motorola "Skype Ready" companion products are expected to be available in the first half of 2005.

Re:Wi-Fi is mostly free now...

[Digital11]

Judging from DU meter activity while on a Skype call, about 5KB/s up & down. Add 5KB/s for each user on a conference.

skype eh?

[froggero1]

I've been using skype for quite a while now, and even though it looks pretty cool, and the phones you can get are slick, until they support incoming calls with it, I can't really see it taking off.

I know it's just supposed to be a replacement for long distance charges, but come on people, start becoming full-on VOIP!

Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe you can get incoming (not skype-to-skype, an actual phone number) calls.

Essentially already done.

[jededeck]

Anyone with a PocketPC Phone Edition with WiFi capability, such as the Qtek 9090 or the HP IPAQ h6315, can already do this, because Skype has a version available for download for the PocketPC. A more interesting question is: What will phone operators do who provide mobile flat-fee internet packages (I heard some are already doing this in the U.S.A.), since phoning with Skype becomes free then any place any time where you have a GSM signal. I am not sure if the bandwidth available with GPRS is enough for Skype to run smoothly (does anyone know this?), however UMTS (a broadband version of GPRS is coming soon).

Re:does it.........

[DJStealth]

A) This is very unlikely. At best it could auto-redial the # on the complimentary network. The networks are so different, it would require a lot of hacking and infrastructure that wouldn't be financially viable for either Skype or a cell provider.

B) This is much more likely; or maybe it will just default to "Unknown #".

People Keep Talking

[foo fighter]

People keep talking about VOIP like its a standard. But it's not.

Try using off-brand phones on a Cisco VOIP network. Try using any regular phone on your home VOIP network.

It just doesn't work.

Maybe this Motorola phone works on the Skype network. (I wouldn't bet on it based on my past experiences with Motorola as well as Skype.)

But what about your open source, small office/home office/home VOIP setup? It's not gonna work! Until we have some real standards and maturity in the VOIP industry we aren't going to have voice over internet protocal (VOIP) we can really trust to work when we need it.

Re:[OT] is there any opensource equivalent of Skyp

[Zemran]

Without wanting to start a flame war, I feel that Skype is the AOL of VoIP and there are many better services to use if you want. Skype is proprietory and does not adhere to the SIP standard in the same way that AOL was in the BBS days. I would hope that these phones will happily work with normal SIP services and are configurable as such. I use Gossiptel and use it to call friends that are on other SIP services, for free, without any problems, I just dial ** followed by their service providers code and then their number. Skype is for Skype users and those wanting to make cheap breakout calls, I want to call anyone including breakout calls.

Re:Article Text

[luvirini]

In many parts of the world it is actually the enduser that buys their phone, they do not come as part of any "package" or "plan".

Re:Please do not use Skype!

[hairyface]

You could try SJphone from http://www.sjlabs.com. It uses open protocols and there are versions for all the platforms you mention. I have tried it on Linux and it works fine and was easy to install. It probably isn't as polished as Skype. The point I was trying to make is that for a consumer, insisting on your/or your friends short term interests (ease of installation and use, coolness, etc) may well be against your own long term interests. Presumably, you and your friends want to communicate for free. Presumably, that is your number one priority, since there are pay-for alternatives to VOIP that are better established, easier to use, etc. So by making the choice you seem to insist on (Skype) you are, in the long term, running a real risk that your own number one priority will get trashed. No free calls when Skype owns the market, lovebyte.

Re:Please do not use Skype!

[erki]

Not only that, but they also designed the Skype clients in such a way that they must check for updates and always run the latest version before being able to communicate with others.

This is false. Skype clients do check for updates, but they do not require the latest version to be installed.

Re:Transitions...

[The Darkness]

Also, forgive my ignorance on Skype or other VoIP protocols, but how do they handle the occasional dropped packet or connection interruption?
I don't know about Skype.

With regards to other VoIP technologies:
A connection interruption results in a dropped call if it's too long (seconds).

Normal dropped packets are already occurring in Cell Phone networks and (IIRC) are handled by replaying some packets or interpolation to give the illusion that the dropped packet is still there. It's amazing how tolerant the human ear is. :-)

Temporary (short) network delays are handled by jitter buffers that always delay incoming audio. This is why it sometimes feels wierd when talking to someone over the internet. Jitter buffers can be large (half second) and we're not used to that.

Re:Wi-Fi is mostly free now...

[IANAAC]

I've actually tested in a corporate envorin... It's a bout 30k, not 5k. Can spike as high as 50k. They themselves claim that 5k is the bare minimum, and 25-30k is much more likely.