Skype must be wanting to cash in on the fact that America is hooked on cellphones. Yesterday, they sent a letter to the FCC asking for cellular carriers to allow customers to run any communication application they so choose. In a nutshell, Skype basically wants companies like T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint to allow customers to install a cellular version of Skype for making inexpensive or free calls from a cellphone.
It can yell all it wants, but no way is Skype going to get anywhere with this. I’m pretty sure Verizon would fight it into the ground. How else is a telecom company going to profit? If Skype did win, wireless carriers would be forced to jack up the price of handsets to help balance out losses. Some may like the idea of cheaper calling with Skype, but I like being able to purchase new cellphones at reasonable prices.
Skype asks FCC to open up cellular networks [Ars Technica]
We don’t seem to have a problem like this in the UK. Any WM5 or S60 phones that can run the existing mobile version have the option to use Skype over 3G and/or wifi networks.
Still, I hold my head high that at least there’s still one place where Europe outdoes the US…
What ridiculous logic you employ. Of course Verizon will fight it, but it’s by no means a foregone conclusion that they will win, so how can you state that there is “no way” skype will get anywhere with it?
More ridiculously, you apparently think it’s a good thing to keep overpaying a wireless carrier for calls and services just so you can get a subsidised handset every few years? Wouldn’t you just rather shell out 4 or 5 hundred bucks one time every 24 months and no longer have to pay 30, 40, 50 cents per minute for a call? I’ve always wondered what kind of idiots were taken in by the mobile operators transparent marketing schemes — it’s frightening to see such ignorance in a consumer.