Skype looks at Nintendo app

A representative from eBay-owned voice over IP service Skype has said that use of the company's program on the new Nintendo DSi device is possible.
##CONTINUE##
The company, which will undergo an initial public offering early next year, has already made applications for its software on the Apple iPhone.

A company representative told TechRadar that while the company has no current plans to integrate its software with Nintendo products, the concept is possible.

"Skype is extending its lead with a focus on rapid innovation, which delivers the new features and products people want, and by integrating Skype software and services into other open platforms with recent examples including the Skype application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Intel-based MIDs, Nokia N97, and a Lite version of Skype for Java-enabled mobile phones.

"Whilst we can't comment on any future plans to bring Skype to Nintendo's DSi, it would technically be possible."

-----------------------------
BY Patrick Stafford
Source：smartcompany

Copyright © 2009
SmartCompany.com.au P/L
All rights reserved.

Skype's future is on the line

You can always find bargains on eBay: shoes, memorabilia, football shirts ... but multibillion dollar software companies?
##CONTINUE##
According to reports, Skype's Scandinavian creators are considering buying back the internet telephony company they sold to eBay four years ago for $3.1bn. The serial entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis are apparently gathering a war chest as part of a consortium of four private equity groups. They may be encouraged by the fact that eBay has just sold StumbleUpon back to its founders, two years after buying it.

It is no secret that eBay has been thinking about offloading Skype - eBay's sales are starting to slump, and last year it announced plans to cut around 1,000 staff. It also hasn't been able to integrate Skype as deeply as it planned (boosting sales by letting buyers call sellers directly).

On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons to hold on. Skype now boasts more than 400 million users, and had revenues of $550m last year - largely a result of its 8% share of the world's international calls. It is also starting to make progress in the mobile world after years of stuttering.

But the real question is: why would Zennström and Friis want Skype back?

The romantics are focusing on the pair's entrepreneurial egos, their need to see their creation fulfil its potential. But there is another, far less emotional reason, something that could turn into one of the most cold-blooded pieces of dealmaking that the web has seen.

When the duo sold Skype, they kept control of a crucial technology that underpinned it - a piece of peer-to-peer software that they licensed back to Skype through another company, Joltid.

Now Skype and Joltid are suing each other. While the specifics are shrouded in confidential contracts, it appears that Zennström and Friis have manoeuvred themselves into a commanding position.

Without Joltid's technology, Skype's value is greatly reduced, so eBay is under pressure to settle the case (presumably with better terms for Joltid), or sell Skype. If so, the best price is likely to come from the founders' consortium - which could, of course, guarantee a deal with Joltid.

It's a classic catch-22, as eBay recently recognised. "If the matter is not resolved through negotiation," it said, the "continued operation of Skype's business as currently conducted would likely not be possible". That could be an understatement.

-----------------------------
BY Bobbie Johnson, San Francisco
Source：The Guardian

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009.

eBay to Spin Off Skype; IPO in 2010

Recently, it was reported that the founders of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, were attempting to buy the company back from eBay. They can forget about that, however. eBay announced on Tuesday it will spin off Skype into its own company, beginning with an IPO in the first half of 2010.
##CONTINUE##
They said, however, that:

Specific timing of the IPO will be based on market conditions. Translation: still in a recession? No IPO.

This news comes a day after eBay sold StumbleUpon back to its founders.

In that case, since eBay seems ready to divest itself of subsidiaries that it feels have "limited synergies with eBay and PayPal," which is exactly what the company said about StumbleUpon, why "no sale?"

Well, eBay paid $3.1 billion for Skype in 2005, including bonus payments. Reports were that the offer coming from Zennstrom and Friis was going to be around $2 billion. eBay probably feels it can get more from an IPO, or at least stir the pot for more cash from Zennstrom and Friis.

Last year, Skype generated $551 million in revenues, up 44% from 2007, while registered user numbers increased to 405 million at the end 2008, up 47% from 2007.

eBay finished down $0.25 to $14.38, but was up nearly 3% to $14.81 in after-hours trading.

-----------------------------
BY Michael Santo
Source：HOT HARDWARE

Copyright © 1999 - 2009 David Altavilla and HotHardware.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

Skype for iPhone: What's the point?

You've had a lot of questions about the new Skype for iPhone (download)--how it works and even why anyone would want to use it. I'm going to answer some of the most frequently asked ones here, but if you've got more, you know what to do. Put 'em in the comments.
##CONTINUE##
First of all, some context. Skype for iPhone is a voice-over-IP communications application that lets you chat with other Skype members for free, plus call landlines and mobile phones when you buy Skype Out credit. It is available in every country that the App Store can be found, and has already made a splash in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Apple requires Skype and other voice applications to use Wi-Fi to place iPhone calls, not the hardware phone. Now, without further ado...

1. If you've already got an iPhone, what's the point of having another calling application?

At least at first, Skype was primarily used to place international calls for free to other Skype users, or to landlines at a reduced rate on par with a calling card, for example. If you've got family and friends living abroad, the application's potential is a no-brainer. Sure, you might not need to use Skype if everyone you know and love lives within a 500 mile radius of you. Yet users have already chimed in with examples of domestic uses, like if your home has a weak cellular signal but strong Wi-Fi; or if you eat through your free talk minutes, a low-rate VoIP service like Skype will cost you less than the carrier's charge for each minute you go over your plan. Also, don't forget that iPod Touch owners can use Skype and other VoIP applications (like Truphone and Fring) to make calls, even though the iPod has no telephone hardware--you just need earphones equipped with a mic.

2. If you're on the road, you still can't use your iPhone to make free calls with Skype unless you can track down a Wi-Fi connection somewhere.

If you're in the U.S., AT&T allows iPhone users free access to AT&T hotspots without incurring extra charges, though if you're attempting a call, you might not want to start it in the middle of Starbucks. Also, even when you've got a laptop or desktop handy and could use VoIP on the desktop, a calling client on the mobile phone gives you the freedom to wander. You won't be able to see your pals with the Web cam from the iPhone, though, so there is a trade off involved.

3. Does Skype for iPhone use the native iPhone address book, or a proprietary one?

Skype hooks into your iPhone's address book from the dialing screen so you can easily call a non-Skype buddy using Skype credit you've purchased. The Contacts screen shows your list of Skype contacts, and it's from here that you initiate a chat or call to Skype pals that aren't in the phone's address book.

4. Will Skype for iPhone notify me of missed messages or calls when I am running other apps, or when the iPhone is inactive?

Yes and no. You'll see notification circles of a missed message or call on the separate screens when you've got the app running, and again on the program icon if you close the application with unread chats. Yet since Apple doesn't let you have more than one application running at a time with iPhone 2.0 software, you won't get an alert if you're using another app and someone tries to reach you (you'll appear offline to them, anyhow.) Even if you do see a notification alert on the program icon after you'ce closed Skype, the number of missed calls you see won't update to reflect the current number until you sign back into Skype.

5. Can you receive calls from your SkypeIn online number when you're in a Wi-Fi hotspot?

Yep; if you've already purchased a SkypeIn number, the service should work seamlessly on the iPhone without extra activation steps.

6. Do you need a headset to make a call?

On the iPhone, you'll be able to hold the phone up to your ear as you would when using the phone, though the application is also compatible with a headset and with speakerphone. Note, though, that you will need a microphone-equipped headset when using Skype with the iPod Touch.

-----------------------------
BY Jessica Dolcourt
Source：cnet

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

First look: Skype on iPhone

Skype has launched an application for the iPhone, bringing its VoIP service to Apple’s mobile handset – but only on WiFi.
##CONTINUE##
SearchNetworking ANZ has tried voice-over-WiFi and VoIP-over-mobile applications before. Neither were satisfactory.

We tried 3 Mobile Skype phone and found that voice quality was simply unacceptable on the carrier’s 3G network and quickly abandoned it in favour of conventional mobile calls.

Experiments with Fring’s iPhone application proved similarly frustrating. We configured Fring as a SIP client for a consumer-grade VoIP service from iiNet for SIP—over-WiFi calls and found sound quality was so poor that the software was not a feasible replacement for – or even an adjunct to – our VoIP line. Quality was also poor using Fring for Google Talk connections.

Skype on iPhone beats both of these solutions for sound quality. But in our brief tests the software frequently dropped calls, even though we were sitting less than one metre from our 802.11g WiFi router when making calls.

Our first call lasted a little over 30 seconds, before the software then dropped calls in under ten seconds three times in a row. A subsequent connection was sustained for more than one minute.

The software has a simple interface that will be easily navigable for any experienced iPhone or Skype user. It is free and available for download now in the App Store.

-----------------------------
BY Simon Sharwood
Source：SearchNetworking

© 2009 TechTarget ANZ. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the TechTarget ANZ Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Skype For iPhone 率先日本開通了！

Skype For iPhone 率先在日本開通了！根據日本版的報導，價格是免費。在 iPhone 及 iPod Touch 均可以用到這個軟體，在 iPod Touch 使用要配備有收音咪的的耳機。功能跟前述的差不多，但一定要在 WIFI 的環境下，才可以使用 Skype to Skype 通話 及 Skype Out。如果使用 Chat Room 的話則不受限制。聯絡人名單也會自動從 iPhone 中加入。聽說音質有比較好，但不太穩定。
##CONTINUE##
-----------------------------
BY Stone IP
Source：engadget

Copyright © 2003-2008, Weblogs, Inc. All rights reserved.

Skype, the Web Phone Giant, Brings Cheap Calls to Cellular

Skype, the Internet calling service that has more than 400 million users around the world, is aggressively moving onto mobile phones.
##CONTINUE##
The Luxembourg-based company, a division of eBay, plans to announce on Tuesday that it will make its free software available immediately for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch and, beginning in May, for various BlackBerry phones, made by Research in Motion.

Other companies have already made software for those phones that works with Skype, but it does not offer all of the service’s features.

As with Skype on the computer, users of Skype on mobile phones can make calls and send instant messages to other Skype users free, and they pay lower rates than the phone companies would charge when they use Skype to call landlines or other mobile phones.

This year, Skype announced versions of its software for Nokia phones and phones running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Google’s Android operating systems.

Apple will limit Skype’s use on the iPhone somewhat, allowing Skype calls to be made only when the device is connected to local Wi-Fi networks, and not allowing Skype calls over the data networks of its carrier partners like AT&T. Apple imposes the same restrictions on all voice applications in its App Store.

The idea of bringing Skype to mobile phones has always been viewed by cellular operators as potentially threatening. It opens up the possibility that people will use their data plans to make calls using Skype, instead of the more expensive and profitable voice minutes on the carriers’ cellular networks.

“The carriers are in the business of selling voice minutes. For a long time they saw products like Skype coming along and they were concerned,” said Ben Wood, director of Research at the London-based CCS Insight, a market research firm. “But it turned out a little bit different than they expected.”

Mr. Wood said many carriers had modified their views about so-called voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VoIP, services. In some cases, Skype has proved to be appealing to consumers and a competitive advantage for a carrier over its rivals.

Skype tested its service in London in the last two years with Hutchison 3, a British mobile network. It said it drew more customers to Hutchison 3 and increased its revenue for each user, since people were making calls on their cellphones using Skype that high calling rates would have discouraged otherwise.

Scott Durchslag, Skype’s chief operating officer, said he did not think the limitations on using Skype on the iPhone would be a big drawback for users, since Wi-Fi networks have become common.

However, he said he hoped Apple and AT&T would relax restrictions and let people make Skype calls anywhere they roamed. “We think these things should work on any device, any network, at any time,” he said.

-----------------------------
BY BRAD STONE
Source：The New York Times

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company.

Report: Skype coming to the iPhone

Skype, the Internet calling service owned by eBay, is expected to announce an application for the iPhone at next week's wireless CTIA tradeshow in Las Vegas, according to tech blogger Om Malik of GigaOM.
##CONTINUE##
Skype is keeping mum on the announcement and has declined to comment on the rumors. But the company is hosting a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas the day before the show kicks off. And it's likely the news will be announced there.

Skype admitted earlier this year that it's working on an application for the iPhone. Scott Durchslag, the company's chief operating officer, said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January that an iPhone version of the software client would be coming to Apple's App Store.

"We have to make sure the call quality is there and the application works really well before we can announce the software for any device," he said in an interview after the company's press conference. "But we will have something for the iPhone as soon as it's perfect."

Skype sees mobile as the next major growth area for its business. Not only does it expect its more than 405 million registered users to take their Skype experience, which offers free and low-cost calling, with them on-the-go, but the company also believes they will be able to reach new users via mobile devices. By putting the peer-to-peer service, which uses the Internet to carry voice traffic, onto a mobile phone, it becomes very convenient to use. The regular Skype service runs on a computer and requires either a special phone or a headset and microphone to make and receive phone calls.

In the U.S. most cell phone plans include domestic long-distance calling as part of a bundle of minutes, so the Skype service isn't really that appealing. But for subscribers calling outside the U.S., rates can be as much as a $2 a minute if cell phone users don't subscribe to a special monthly plan for making international calls. This makes the Skype mobile client most appealing to users who want to make inexpensive international calls, but don't want to be tied to their computers.

A software version of Skype already exists for Windows Mobile phones. Nokia also plans to embed some of its phones with Skype clients. And Skype has worked with a company called iSkoot to develop a special Skype phone that is sold by the cell phone operator Hutchison 3 U.K. A Skype-lite version of the client is also available on some Java phones.

Now, iPhone users will get to use Skype, too. But before iPhone users get too excited, there's probably a big catch. The new Skype app for the iPhone will likely be restricted to Wi-Fi networks only, as Apple has done to other third-party services like Fring, which offers access to Skype.

If this is the case, it will be a huge limitation to the usefulness of the service. While other mobile phone users can use the Skype service anywhere they can a cell phone signal, iPhone users will be restricted to only using it where they can access Wi-Fi. Most people access Wi-Fi home or in the office, where they're likely to be near a computer anyway.

-----------------------------
BY Marguerite Reardon
Source：cnet

Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

分析师称eBay或将出售PayPal和Skype

美国投资银行Jefferies & Co.分析师约瑟夫·斯考利(Youssef Squali)今天表示，如果不能提高主营业务业绩，eBay将面临剥离或出售PayPal和Skype业务的压力。
##CONTINUE##
斯考利今天在一份投资报告中称，不能扭转拍卖和固定价格销售业务营收下滑的趋势可能迫使eBay“释放”其他业务的价值。受拍卖和固定价格销售业务营收下滑拖累，上个季度eBay营收首次出现下滑。斯考利说，“投资者越来越不容易满足了。”

上一季度eBay拍卖业务部门营收下滑了16%。eBay CEO约翰·多纳霍(John Donahoe)正在调整上架费，保护买家权益，提振固定价格销售业务。多纳霍曾表示，尽管Skype与公司其他业务关联度不高，但却是“非卖品”。

eBay发言人何塞·马拉博(Jose Mallabo)表示，该公司计划未来3年内使PayPal和Skype业务翻一番。eBay还将重组拍卖业务部门，推动未来3年营收和利润的增长。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：志翔

报告称Skype成全球最大国际语音通讯供应商

通讯研究公司TeleGeography周二发表报告称，2008年约有8%的国际通话来自于Skype，比上年同期提高了41%。
##CONTINUE##
TeleGeography分析师史蒂芬·贝克特(Stephan Beckert)表示：“Skype仅仅推出5年就成为全球最大的国际语音通讯供应商。”该机构预计，2008年国际通话时长为3840亿分钟，同比增长了12%，但由于资费下滑，国际通话的营收与上年基本持平。

Skype一般被视为电信运营商的对手，后者担心网络通话将进一步减少其营收。最近，Skype与和记黄埔在英国的“3”达成合作。由于很少用手机进行非商业国际通话，所以利用Skype打国际长途对移动运营商影响很小。3表示，自从推出了Skype电话后，通话量已有所上升。Skype提供收费的“Skype Out”服务，可以让用户拨打普通电话，2008年该功能通话时长为84亿分钟，约占Skype所有国际通话量的四分之一。

迄今为止，Skype一直面向个人用户，但该公司周一宣布推出面向商业用户的测试版本。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：肖恩

Skype targets businesses with new service

Skype is going after business customers with a new service designed to help cash-strapped companies reduce communications costs.
##CONTINUE##
On Monday, Skype, which is owned by eBay, will announce a new version of its Internet calling service that allows companies to use their IP-enabled corporate phone systems to make Skype calls using regular office phones instead of using a headset that plug into a PC.

The new service called Skype For SIP allows companies to use the Skype service with their IP-enabled PBX's, which use an open standard called SIP or Session Initiation Protocol. Companies using the service can make phone calls from their office phones to any regular phone or cell phone at the same cheap rates that Skype's consumer customers can. The calls are carried over the public Internet.

Skype For SIP users will also be able to purchase online Skype numbers available in over 20 countries to receive calls from business contacts and customers who are using traditional fixed lines or mobile phones. Skype is launching the beta test of the service Monday and will offer it commercially later this year.

The majority of Skype's 405 million registered users are consumers, but about 30 percent of these users also use the service for business, the company has said. Most of these business users have been small or medium-sized companies looking to keep costs down. Since the economic downturn began last year, executives at Skype say the company is seeing a surge in interest from businesses of all sizes that are looking to use the service to cut costs.

"We're seeing a whole new opportunity in the business market, as companies that I'd never have thought would be a target for Skype are pro-actively coming to us and asking for a solution," Scott Durchslag, the company's chief operating officer, said at a press conference during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

Skype has been trying to reach business customers for nearly three years. In 2006, it announced Skype for Business, which is designed for users who are too small to invest in building their own Internet Protocol telephony networks or to subscribe to expensive managed services from a telephone carrier.

The service includes a Web site, Skype.biz, which offers downloads to make using Skype easier. As part of the Skype For Business service, Skype also integrated its software client with the Microsoft Outlook toolbar. And it offers an auto-management tool that enables group administrators to purchase Skype credits for one account and then distribute them to employees, who can use them for Skype premium services such as SkypeIn, SkypeOut, voice mail and third-party conference calling.

But the latest announcement is targeted at companies that are larger than the small 10-person operation. These are companies that have already invested in a SIP-based PBX phone system.

While Skype has been very successful in the consumer market, it may have a harder time cracking into the business market as there are already several competitors. In addition to traditional IP based phone systems from companies like Cisco, Microsoft also offers software to connect phone calls to its Office software. And Google recently announced software that allows users to link phone calls to a single number and access voicemails online.

But Skype is hoping that its large installed base of users, who are already familiar with the software and the service from using as consumers, will want to use the service at work too.

Still, there are concerns that Skype's service won't provide call quality that is sufficient for business use. There are also concerns about the security of the Skype service, which uses the public Internet for the voice calls.

Skype says that its software is secure. And the company believes that the low-cost service and the new tools its developing to help business manage the service will appeal to many new customers.

Most businesses probably won't get rid of their existing telephone service to use Skype's service, but some may use the Skype service to communicate with employees internally. For example, a company may use Skype to make calls between corporate headquarters and employees who are traveling and using cell phones. Skype could help reduce costs when these traveling employees are overseas or outside their cell phone coverage area.

-----------------------------
BY Marguerite Reardon
Source：cnet

Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

Skype公布语音转换文字信息服务

互联网电话公司Skype计划周二宣布，该公司将与SpinVox联合提供4种语言的语音到文字短信转换服务。这将为Windows和Mac版Skype用户增添另外一种信息通知功能，Skype已经支持免费电子邮件通知或简单的短信通知。
##CONTINUE##
但是，将信息由语音转换为文字“代价不菲”。用户需要为每条信息支付25美分，其中还不包括标准的Skype短信费用。较长的语音邮件会被划分成最多3条信息，超出3条信息的部分将会被截断。即使信息转换有误或因故无法转换——例如语音信号音质不好，SpinVox和Skype仍然会收费。无法理解的单词将被转换为问号或空格。

用户可以设置转换哪些Skype联系人的语音邮件。另外，发送文字短信和收到语音邮件之间有10分钟延迟，如果用户及时“读取”了语音邮件，语音邮件就不会被转换为文字信息。用户也可以设置每天转换的语音邮件数量上限。

这项服务最初将只支持英语、西班牙语、法语和德语，SpinVox和Skype还计划支持意大利语和葡萄牙语。

-----------------------------
文章出处：第一财经日报
作者：志翔

Skype growing by 380,000 users a day

The number of its users is growing by the population of Singapore (more than four million) every 12 days and nearly a third of its registered subscribers now use it for business purposes.
##CONTINUE##
As if to celebrate its fifth birthday, IP telephony service provider Skype recently achieved a milestone of 15 million concurrent users, meaning there are now 405 million skype users across the planet. This figure, they say, is growing by 380,000 every day.

Skype, an eBay company, unveiled these extraordinary figures in Singapore, to mark the launch of its new software Skype 4.0, which it describes as ‘the most exciting and fundamental change to Skype’s software in the company’s history’.

Despite the downturn, Skype last year earned US550 billion in revenue, a 44 per cent rise, year on year. In the final quarter 2008, they earned US$45 million – the eight consecutive quarter of profit.

The company offers free calling between subscribers and low-cost ‘Skype Out’calling to standard landline telephones and mobiles. The software, also allows calls, file transfers, texting, video chat and videoconferencing. The service is available for desktop computers, notebook and tablet computers and other mobile devices, including mobile phones. A number of companies, including Skype, produce dedicated Skype phones.

‘Skype Out’ revenue growth

According to the company, in the fourth quarter of 2008, people used 2.6 billion ‘SkypeOut minutes’ and that is growing by 61 per cent quarterly.

According to preliminary data, released by TeleGeography Research, Skype accounted for eight per cent of the world’s international calling minutes in 2008.

Skype maintains that separate research points to 95 per cent of business users saving money using it, with about a third cutting their phone bills by half. Almost 80 per cent of the survey of ‘Skype for Business’ users, showed that nearly 80 per cent had seen an increase in productivity and were working closer with their co-workers because of using Skype.

Perhaps most telling of all, the research shows that some 62 per cent of business subscribers were using Skype to better communicate with their customers.

Keen to grow its business subscribers, Skype now even offers a free ‘Business Control Panel’, a web-based tool that allows company’s to control all of their Skype credit expenditure.

Super wideband audio

Skype 4.0, which took three years to develop, is claimed to be ‘more user-friendly than ever before’ to offer higher quality audio, through ‘super wideband audio’ and a new bandwidth manager that provides ‘the very best Skype video calling experience possible, even on a low bandwidth connection’.

According to Dan Neary, Skype’s new Vice President and General anager, Asia Pacific, “there has never been a better time than now for enterprises – particularly small to medium businesses – to consider switching to Skype for their communications”.

“In this type of environment people are looking for cost savings wherever they can find them, they are looking to ‘recession-proof’ their businesses,” Neary said. “They don’t want to fly from A to B, they want to do video-conferencing. More and more, this offering is becoming applicable for people in business.

“We quite happy to offer many services that are free, because we know that some people are always going to want to upgrade to our premium paid services.”

Other ‘paid for’ Skype features include on line numbers, Skype Voicemail and Skype SMS.

-----------------------------
BY Ross O. Storey
Source：MIS ASIA

Skype - A recession proof business?

There’s been plenty written about how Skype was a bad buy for eBay, but lets face it which of us hasn’t ever made a bad buying decision, whether it be stock for selling on eBay or other investments? That’s changing for Skype though, far from being written off as Meg Whitman’s worst decision Skype continues to prove it’s critics wrong by outperforming the rest of the technology market.
##CONTINUE##
Despite the world economy downturn, Skype appears to be bouncing from one high to another and bucking the trend to become more profitable than ever before. This appears to be partly led by users looking for the most cost effective methods for communicating, and not just consumers - businesses too are looking for cost cuts and are turning to Skype.

Today Skype hit the milestone of 15 million users logged on concurrently. In his speech at CES, Skype CFO Scott Durchslag said Skype has been growing about 50% compared to the previous year in almost every metric from minutes, to new users, to revenues.

Skype have also just had their seventh straight quarter of profitability and are pushing ahead with new products which for 2009 include Skype for MAC OS X, the 3 Skypephone, Skype for the iPhone, Skype for Google Android phones and Skype for Window Mobile Devices.

While other technology companies are shedding staff and reining in spending Skype is expanding their portfolio and making money. It’s an impressive performance from the black sheep of eBay’s portfolio of companies.

-----------------------------
BY Chris Dawson
Source：tamebay

Copyright © 2006 - 2009 Chris Dawson.

Skype ships beta for MIDs

eBay subsidiary Skype is beta-testing a "Moblin" version of its proprietary VoIP softphone. Skype 1.0 Beta for Intel-based MIDs (mobile Internet devices) is claimed to offer excellent, free video calling, thanks to the high-performance processors and high-bandwidth 3G/4G/WiMAX wireless networking capabilities MIDs are expected to have.
##CONTINUE##
(Click for larger view of Skype on Nokia's N800 Internet tablet)

Skype claims that the "higher" performance of MIDs, along with their 3G/WiMax data networking capabilities, will offer users an "excellent" mobile video calling experience. Presumably, the performance is better than that offered by the Java version of Skype for mobile phones, or the native ARM Linux port bundled with Nokia's Linux-based 'Net tablets and Sony's MyLo communicator.

Other touted features of the Moblin port include:

• "Fast, smooth" kinetic scrolling
  
• Touchscreen support
  
• Free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls anywhere
  
• Cheap calls to landlines and mobiles
  
• Receive calls from other Skype users or to personal online number
  
• Instant messaging, group IM, SMS, call forwarding, voicemail, presence

The beta port was announced this morning in a press conference at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. It primarily targets ODMs (original device makers) and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) using Moblin to build MIDs based on Intel Atom Z-series processors. Skype is also demonstrating the product at its CES booth, it said, at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel from 6-10 PM PST on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009.

Skype says the beta is available now, but we could not find it on the company's website. Nor could we find any videos of it yet, on YouTube. Skype did not say whether its beta supports Moblin 1, or the Clutter-based Moblin 2 release (YouTube video link) expected this month.

More details may be available from Skype, or from Moblin.

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BY Henry Kingman
Source：DesktopLinux.com

Skype将推iPhone版免费通话软件

Skype周四称，很快将为iPhone用户提供Skype免费通话服务。

Skype今天在国际消费电子展上称，某一版本的Skype网络通话和即时通讯软件已可在谷歌的Android手机平台上免费下载，并表示将于不久后推出适用于iPhone的版本。
##CONTINUE##
Skype首席运营官斯科特·德士赖格(Scott Durschlag)称，iPhone版Skype软件仍在开发中，工程师仍在努力降低该软件的耗电量。

Skype软件不会是第一个用于iPhone的免费通话软件。不过，虽然苹果已开始允许外部公司制作iPhone程序，但仍禁止网络通话应用程序连接手机网络，用户只有在无线热点才能使用这些程序。

虽然科技业的经济状况仍暗流涌动，但德士赖格则表示：“坦诚地讲，我最大的担忧是机会太多。Syke的腾飞正在加速。”他指出，Skype的用户人数已达3.7亿多人，且此后每季度都将新增约3000万用户。

Skype称，将在2月初推出用于Windows操作系统的Skype新软件，这款软件对用户界面进行了全面修改，更加突出了全屏视频通话功能，其通话质量将迈上一个新台阶。

本周早些时候，Sypke推出了用于苹果Macintosh电脑的新版软件，此外还将发布一款新版开源软件，用于使用英特尔芯片和运行Linux系统的小型台式机。

苹果发言人尚未就此报道置评。

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文章出处：新浪科技
作者：唐风