Skype coming to BlackBerry in May

skype_logo_1_medium

It seems Skype is going to make a very aggressive push onto mobile in the coming months. The company will announce tomorrow that it plans to make its free software available immediately for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch and, beginning in May, for various BlackBerry models.

“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.

So it seems we’ll be getting cheap VoIP calls after all, unless the carriers put the kibosh on this. Do you see AT&T allowing Skype to reside on their devices?

[Via] (Thanks Nick)

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AP

It would appear that way...
G M

Seems like this is completely forgotten subject..

:(
AP

Any news on when skype for blackberry will be release?
G M

Its May now...anyone know when the Skype app would be out?

cheers
illwil

I'm a little bent on the fact that it'll be released for iPhone first, as well. I hope the Skype client uses the data channel for VoIP calls, instead of using the voice channel (to AT&T's benefit). One benefit is that you can connect to your own WiFi hotspot in other countries and place VoIP calls for the low-low.
Nick

I was excited about this when I first read the headline, but was dissapointed that I must wait till May. Better ever than never I guess, but then again maybe they can get this deeper past Verizon so that it allows this to go through, especially since they quoted other companies as making some money from this whole deal by encouraging long distance calls. I would really be pissed if they did not allow this on regular BB for Verizon, like the Storm, and I would for sure consider changing providers. The one thing that comes to mind about the IPhone is that someone might actually mess with the app to make it work with AT&Ts 3G? At any rate, I just hope they release this for most of the newer BB's, no matter what provider they are with.
illwil

If AT&T doesn't allow Skype services, they will most certainly lose a good portion of their consumer base. As far as Wi-Fi, my bold is unlocked, and I-
Can easily switch to another carrier. What I do forsee is an increase in the AT&T data plans to cover costs.
I sure hope the don't block skype TCP ports, as ill be in Iraq this year, and will
need a cheaper method to phone home.
Drew

Hmmm, If AT&T doesn't allow Skype to reside on their devices then what's Skype going to do? We all know Verizon probably won't have Wi-Fi on their new "Flagship" BB (Niagara 9630). Apparently Wi-Fi isn't considered necessary by Verizon. Who does that leave? Sprint and a smattering of small profile providers?

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