Skype Calls on Nokia

Skype and Nokia  are teaming up to bring VoIP  to tablet computers.

The N800 is a successor to the
company’s N770 Internet tablet and adds a full onscreen finger keyboard, Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth connections and an integrated Web camera.

The N800 tablet computer will be loaded with software from Skype,  in the first partnership deal between the
two companies. While the N800 isn’t a cell phone, the Skype software allows
free calling if the users is in a Wi-Fi zone. The unit includes a microphone
and speaker.

The N800 also includes Navicore Internet navigation software and the
RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music service. The announcements were made today at
the Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas this week.

Priced at $399, the N800 software uses the Linux operating system.
Nokia’s Maemo development platform, launched in 2005, is designed to help
open source developers create applications for Nokia’s tablet computers.

“Mobility will be at the core of how the Internet evolves, where people
can have access to the people, content and information they want from
wherever they are,” said Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who
spoke at CES. “In emerging markets, we see that more people are accessing
the Internet for the first time via their mobile device
rather than on a PC and we aim to be at the forefront of making that
happen.”

Separately at CES, Skype introduced two new Internet phones, the
IpevoSolo.1 and TOPCOM Webt@lker 5000. Availability is slated for March.
Skype said the user interface on the phones will be familiar to anyone who
has used Skype on a computer and includes exactly the same calling features.
Each phone includes a 2.4-inch color screen.

In addition to free Skype-to-Skype calls, the new phones support Skype’s
premium features, including SkypeOut (inexpensive calls from Skype to
traditional landlines or mobiles), SkypeIn (a number that lets users receive
calls from landlines and mobiles on Skype) and Skype Voicemail.

“Skype users tell us that they want to put Skype to use in multiple ways,
both at home and at work,” Eric Lagier, direct of business development,
hardware and mobile at Skype, said in a statement. “With these new desktop
Internet phones, consumers and small business users will have more
flexibility to make Internet calls and enjoy the great Skype cost savings
and sound quality without needing a computer to fire up Skype.”

Also at CES, Nokia announced a deal with blog tools provider Six Apart, to bring Vox, a free
personal blogging service to the Nokia Nseries multimedia computers. The two
companies said the agreement will make it easy for users to upload video and
photos, as well as update their blogs directly from their compatible Nokia Nseries devices to the Vox blogging service.

N800

The Nokia N800.

Source: Nokia

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