October 29 2007

Mobile network "3" launches Skype phone

The 3 network has announced a new phone that allows 'standard' mobile calls, free VOIP calls and - in a groundbreaking move that the industry has been collectively ignoring - free calls from mobile to a Skype desktop. This move could be seen in the future as a small but significant step in bring mobile web and voice (ie 'commerce') together, but it's certainly too early to call the end of the mobile telcos.

I know, we don't ordinarily "do" mobile (mainly because we're sick of every year since 2000 being hailed as The Year of The Mobile - enough already!), but we thought we'd wave this in the peripheral vision: it could be that "multi" may soon include more voice.

The phone is a combined mobile (GSM) handset and a VOIP device (voice-over-internet-protocol - ie voice over the backbone of the web rather than over wireless cellular networks). The challenge here has not been the technology but rather the business model. Why would a telco give up the per-second charges for the use of bandwidth, especially when the costs of carrying that voice traffic is the same to the telco?

3 is making the most of its current 'underdog' position (5th of the big three networks) to make an attractive consumer offer that will appeal to the Net Generation.

We are already acclimatised to handsets that - with the fast connection, standards-compliant browsers and large screens - make accessing the web less painful that of yore (which was akin to pushing water uphill with a fork). The ability to add "click to call", or invoke voice sessions from an SMS coupon, or to deploy product specialists or out-of-hours support from the US will all prove attractive.

Skype's press release says in full Skype styl-ee:

What we’re dealing with here is a mobile internet phone with Skype built in. That is, in addition to Skype calls the phone also handles conventional calls and can be used to access 3’s other internet services. We’re dealing with a new breed here, folks. Because this is the first time an operator has offered a mass-market mobile phone purpose-built for free internet calls. In a package that’s easy to use, is easy on the pocketbook and looks so good you may want to chain it to your wrist (lest gravity or someone’s sticky fingers get the better of it).

The first part's clearly factually-based, but the last part's just so clearly wrong: to your Editor's aged and jaded eyes the phone's a dog (and it's only the thought of those free US calls while gadding about town that allows us to look at it long enough to find the Skype Button...).

Enough hardware commentary already - let's simply look at this as the Version Ugly of the web-meets-voice-meets-SMS-meets-IM convergence device. Something for the geek and the determinedly transatlantic for the next few months, but with these features coming to home and office phones too in the coming years it's sure to be a new channel opportunity for digital marketers.

Now, where's that picture of an iPhone again...

by Ian Jindal