Skype is doomed in its present form, according to Nokia - but mobile-to-VoIP is where it's at.
According to Nokia chief strategy officer, Tero Ojanperä, Skype must branch out or die. "Someone needs to make money... [Skype] cannot survive on voice calls alone, it needs to find a business model," he said.
Nokia's Timo Luukka, director of product marketing in the enterprise mobile devices business unit, added: "It's non-standards technology. Right now, it's a laptop consumer phenomenon. We're seeing what we can do with it... let's see where it goes. The danger zone with them is how far they can support it when it 'horizontalises'.
"It's up to users how much are they willing to accept quality. Corporate users need [VoIP of a] quality that's a minimum of today's telephony."
While Skype looks to be aiming to move Nokia's way - CEO Niklas Zennström recently said a Skype client is in production for Symbian phones, the operating system Nokia's smart phones run on - the Finnish vendor has its own interest in the world of IP.
Nokia today announced a partnership with Avaya which will give users of Nokia Series 60-based smart phones and Avaya IP PBXs to have a single business number and voicemail, as well as PBX-style call logging for the smart phones and SIP capabilities.
The partnership will also allow smart phones to connect to an Avaya IP PBX over a wireless LAN.
The equipment maker also announced a partnership with Cisco to licence that networking giant's technology.
Talkback
WTF?! As long as I can make FREE calls over a wireless connection then Skype will do just fine. Business model, what an ugly tag to stick on such a liberating piece of software.
I use Skype sometimes, and for my friends in foreign climbs or back in Blighty, it means I can talk as long as I want without feeling constrained.
And as to the quality, I'd be happy to pay for that quality of call on a mobile, the fact that most of the time when somebody calls me on the mobile I have to find a land line to call them back so they can hear me sort of negates the point of having a one.
I am on a business trip at the moment and have transferred my Skype details from the PC to my laptop and I continue to have crystal clear conversations wherever I am set up.
The office of my friend is in the middle of a residential area and the mobile has enough signal to ring, I then either have to call back on the land line, or I have to walk 100m up the hill to get a signal on the mobile! At home, the mobile signal is even worse, it usually gets enough signal during the day to get 1 SMS from my provider to tell me I have missed half a dozen calls!
I've given up giving out my Mobile number, everybody gets my home/office number (ISDN) which gets forwarded to my mobile when I'm out-and-about or to the destination land-line.
And don't even get me started on finding a suitable mobile 'phone! I want a smart looking, comfortable phone which isn't too bulky or too small, which has a good quality connection when talking. What I don't want is a tiny phone which I can't clamp between my cheek and shoulder and I don't want a digital camera with some 'phone facilities, I have decent digital cameras and film cameras, thank you.
For me, the zenith of Nokia's 'phone development was the 6210/6310 series, a good, basic phone which was, mostly, reliable. If they offered a similar sized 'phone today with a slightly more modern look, I would buy one tomorrow.
The size was right, and the keypad worked properly, I used to send a lot of SMS's at the time, today I have a small 6610, it is a pain to use, it is too small and the keys don't always work first press, I just feel lucky I don't have to send SMS's anymore... I am seriously considering "upgrading" it to a 6310i!
Wassup Nokia..?..
Skype causing you financial problems is it Ha .!
Oh Dear what a shame they dont like Skype cus it's doing quite niceley thanks and they are fellin' the squeeze