Nokia and Skype to develop Internet calls on Tablet
Rating: geeks bearing gifts
At CES in Las Vegas Skype and Nokia have announced they will develop a mobile version of Skype for the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, also introduced today. The first implementation on the Nokia N800 is expected to be made available for download by the end of first half of 2007.
Ari Virtanen, vice president, convergence products, Nokia, said, “Together, we can develop communications devices beyond expectations.” Which planet is he on?
For a start, it’s only one device and not a mass market one at that, but much more to the point, Skype calls via a fixed line can be exceedingly poor quality. We’ve given up altogether, it took too many attempts to have a conversation. What will happen to people on the hoof remains to be seen.
Certainly lots of us are anxious to cut our mobile phone spend, but people using N800 Internet Tablet’s are likely to be on a corporate plan anyhow and never see a bill. Also, when you’re on the move, time is short and you just want to make a call and have done with it, not fiddle about and irritate your customers into the bargain.
It’s a great idea, but for Skype to succeed on WiFi hotspots and the like, quality needs to be much, much better and, as in the fixed world, it needs to be a mass market phenomenon, not a toy for geeks.
Related News:
Leave a Comment