TMCnews Featured Article

Is Skype Finally Coming to the iPhone?

By Michael Dinan, TMCnet Editor

As a huge wireless trade show approaches next week, rumors are swirling in the communications space that e-Bay-owned Skype, the Internet calling service, is set to announce an application for the iPhone.

 

The move – one that TMC President Rich Tehrani has been predicting for months – hasn’t been confirmed either by Luxembourg-based Skype or by Apple Inc. A spokesperson for Skype said the company doesn’t comment on rumors. Apple (News - Alert) could not immediately be reached by TMCnet for comment.

 

According to a story by Marguerite Reardon of CNET News – a tech news site owned by San Francisco-based CBS Interactive – Skype COO Scott Durchslag in January said that an iPhone (News - Alert) version of Skype would come eventually to Apple’s iTunes App Store.

 

“We have to make sure the call quality is there and the application works really well before we can announce the software for any device,” Durchslag reportedly said in an interview after a press conference. “But we will have something for the iPhone as soon as it’s perfect.”

 

Skype already offers a Windows Mobile version of its client, and many tech industry analysts believe that the company will have to continue focusing on mobile to continue growing.

 

And growing it is. As TMCnet reported, following an announcement that businesses using SIP-based IP-PBX systems soon will be able to place calls with a new Skype service, a report emerged confirming Skype is fast becoming a platform of choice for international callers.

 

Officials at TeleGeography say that international traffic that uses Skype is soaring to new heights, with a 41 percent uptick in 2008, to a total of about 33 billion minutes.

 

TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert (News - Alert) called the increase “remarkable.”

 

“Only five years after its launch, Skype has emerged as the largest provider of cross-border voice communications in the world,” Beckert said.

 

For many of us in the communications technology space, Skype’s landing on the iPhone is just a matter of time – a marriage of one competent company’s VoIP service with an equally competent company’s mobile device.

 

As Tehrani opined way back in November, it was surprising that Joost (News - Alert) beat Skype to the iPhone.

 

“There are already a number of VoIP competitors on the iPhone and one would imagine with the resources available to eBay (News - Alert), Skype would be first,” he said.

 

Stay tuned to TMCnet for developments.

 

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Michael Dinan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Michael's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Michael Dinan