Skype deepens partnership with Nokia, with new Symbian client
Focuses on quality of experience while axing WinMo and Java versions
Published: 3 March, 2010
READ MORE: Nokia | Skype | App Store | VoIP | Symbian
Nokia teamed up with Skype a year ago, emulating Hutchison's 3 and INQ units by promising handsets preloaded and optimized for the internet telephony service. Now the partnership is moving up a gear, threatening to disrupt the mobile operators' voice revenues further. Nokia has adopted the new Skype client for open Symbian, and will make it available for free in its Ovi Store.
The new client, for the most recent Symbian OS release, will run on any Nokia Symbian smartphone - a total installed base of 200m - and will be preloaded on some models, working with either Wi-Fi or 3G. "Symbian enables us to bring smartphones to more and more people and ensures scale for our solutions and compelling services, such as Skype," said Jo Harlow, senior VP for smartphones at Nokia. "We're seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day on Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users."
Skype expects other Symbian users, notably Sony Ericsson, to introduce the software soon too, though it remains to be seen whether they will put such active support behind it as Nokia. The handset giant also supports Skype on its MeeGo platform, and integrated it with N900.
Skype is increasingly focusing on enhancing the quality of its application rather than just selling on the basis of its free calls. For instance, it is adding new audio technology to improve sound quality, which will be included in a future 3G version of its iPhone app (currently only available for Wi-Fi, though this version has been downloaded by over 15% of iPhone or iPod Touch users).
Last week, Skype said it was axing its clients for Windows Mobile and Skype Lite for Java phones. The company said on its blog that "neither of these apps offered a great Skype experience". Of course, it favors preloading on phones, since this encourages uptake, and also improves the usability. "Using Skype from the address book removes the need to open up the application separately and it's proving a very popular model," said Russ Shaw, VP for the EMEA region, talking to Dow Jones. "We're now working with Nokia to integrate across their N Series range."
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