Skype has released a new beta of its software for Google’s Android operating system, Java-enabled handsets and Intel-based mobile internet devices (MIDs).
The updated beta makes Skype’s software broadly available to millions of mobile users worldwide, including in the US for the first time.
The Lite version (download) lacks the ability to make video calls, but offers all other core Skype features, including contact presence, Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messages, as well as Skype-in and Skype-out. Calls and messages can be made over Wi-Fi or a mobile data connection.
Although the T-Mobile G1 is the only Android-powered device on the market today, several other devices are due in the coming months, all of which should be able to run the new version of Skype.
Skype Lite is available globally, and has the ability to make Skype-to-Skype calls and low cost calls to landlines and mobiles abroad. It is available in the US, the UK, Poland, Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand.
Mobile Internet Devices typically come with 4″-7″ screens, a camera, GPS and WiFi connectivity. Select MIDs also provide WiMax or 3G/4G support for wireless broadband connectivity on-the-go. ABI Research expects 86 million Linux-enabled MIDs to ship by 2013.
The new Skype 1.0 Beta for MIDs is optimised for kinetic scrolling support on the touch-screen displays, and supports all the usual features including IM, presence, Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls as well as Skype-In and Skype-Out calls to landlines and mobiles.
Intel and Skype are working with MID manufacturers to have the software preinstalled, offering access to the software right out of the box.
Skype has more than 370 million registered users globally who use Skype software to communicate for free through voice and video calls as well as instant messages. Skype generates revenue through its premium offerings, such as calls made to and from landlines and mobiles, voicemail, call forwarding, and SMS.
Motorola (and others) are expected to make Android platforms available for Clearwire’s service later this year. Will Skype threaten the voice over IP services from Sprint and Clearwire?
Skype for Android works differently than Skype on your computer, explains Silicon Alley Insider. It uses your cellphone’s voice feature — and your calling minutes — to make a call, and then it routes the rest of the call over the Internet. This means that you might not have to pay international long distance if you call Peru or Portugal, but you will still need your T-Mobile minutes.
Similar to Skype, Truphone allows users to contact other Truphone users free and use landlines around the world cheaply. The software comes out on Jan. 12, at which point you’ll be able to make and receive Skype calls and IM to other Skype users. Truphone has already added Twitter integration.
Truphone is currently available on the iPhone, Nokia N and E-Series, BlackBerry smartphones and the 2nd generation iPod Touch. It’s a mobile VoIP application that never charges you for calls over the Truphone network, no matter where you are. Nokia, iPhone and iPod Touch users can make Truphone calls from Wi-Fi hotspots.
If you dial an international number, the call is redirected at the handset to a Truphone access number in your country, which connects to their server which in turn automatically completes your call to the international destination.
Clearwire has said it will support services like Skype, probably because the company knows Skype is likely to bring more to the table than take away. It’s a judgment call. Verizon and AT&T may go the other way.
