After flirting with mobile VoIP for a while, Skype looks like it’s about to get properly stuck in. The company’s announced that it’s brought out a beta version of the Skype client for “50 of the most popular Java-enabled mobile phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson”.
All the usual features are enabled – chat, presence, getting calls from Skype users or through SkypeIn – for everyone, but for those in seven lucky markets (Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) there’s also outbound Skype-toSkype calls and SkypeOut functionality enabled.
The software is just a test release at the moment and its trial phase is expected to last several months. Working out whether a regular mobile or a Skype call is cheaper can still be a bit of a fiddly business and the limited functionality is a bit of a blow for those outside the seven countries Skype has given the nod, but still good to see Skype gearing up for a full-on mobile attack.