A few weeks ago, we told you about a deal to put Skype on Nokia phones. That’s not set to happen until Nokia’s N7 phone goes on sale in June. In the meantime, Skype fans who use the iPhone can rejoice. There’s a free Skype app for the iPhone available now.
The app became available yesterday, and is already a huge hit around the world. Sure, the fact that it’s free contributes to its popularity. But what’s the real reason?
Skype uses the internet to communicate, which means that if you use Skype on your smartphone, you’re not using up any of the minutes in your wireless plan. You can make unlimited calls (provided your friends also have Skype on their smartphones) for the flat cost of your data plan.
Needless to say, wireless carriers are not thrilled at this prospect. The more people who buy smartphones, and the more people who use Skype, the lower the need will be for plans that offer large numbers of minutes—the more expensive plans. People could buy the most basic wireless plans, pay a low monthly fee for minutes and data, and make as many calls as they like. Wireless carriers could potentially lose a lot of money.
They do have a little control over preventing that, though, evidenced by a couple of built-in drawbacks to the Skype app. For example, if you attempt to use the app to make a call over the 3G network, a message will appear that tells you calls over 3G networks are not currently supported due to restrictions in your wireless plan. Apparently, Apple is trying to appease AT& T by making the Skype app unavailable over the 3G network, thereby requiring users to actually use their AT&T wireless plan for cellular calls. This goes a long way toward ensuring that AT&T will continue to offer the iPhone with their wireless plans. This may also prove to be true once the Nokia N7 is released in June. That remains to be seen.
Despite this restriction, the Skype app seems to work well enough to have gained a three-star rating in the Apple app store.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve read about how the cellular industry is becoming as archaic as the landline industry. At some point they will have to realize that cell service will become unnecessary as more and more people realize that all of it is just IP traffic. More importantly, as other options become available.
As for me, I’m anxious for the day I can connect my WiMax enabled internet tablet to an ubiquitous network and use Skype freely the way it was meant to be used. And if WiMax goes the way of BetaMax and LTE becomes the de facto standard, I’ll get a device that supports that. Either way, same outcome for me.
Skype and the underlying VoIP technologies are disruptive. Eventually, they will become more prevalent and all of the current wireless providers will have to do the same for them as they did when rolling out large-scale cell networks.
Thanks so much for the comment, Mathew. I agree, the cellular industry does need to make some drastic changes to keep up with new technology growth, or it risks becoming obsolete. Consumers are less and less tolerant of the stranglehold so many companies have had on services for so long, and are getting very good at finding, or even creating, alternatives and workarounds.
Interestingly, rather than continuing to move forward with wireless innovation, some companies are now attempting to revive the landline industry. More about that in tomorrow’s post.