Skype does away with PC

Internet telephony and messaging services provider, Skype on Thursday announced a new set of cordless phones that will allow users of its Internet phone service make calls without a computer or Wi-Fi connection.

The prime models from Philips and Netgear will hit the market before year's end. The first series of products to be rolled out in this class are the Philips VOIP841 cordless phone and Netgear's cordless phone for Skype.

Currently, Skype phones work through a PC or a laptop. The new Philips and Netgear handsets plug into a broadband connection jack and a standard home phone jack and come preloaded with Skype software. These models can send and receive Skype calls over the Internet as well as traditional landline numbers without a computer.

Skype, which is owned by eBay and has well over 100 million users, is essentially a software application that twists broadband connections into phone lines. Initially, users had to download the Skype software onto laptops and PCs. Headsets and microphones were used to make calls from computers over the Internet.

Talking about the new class of Skype phone, Rudy Provoost, chief executive officer of the Philips Consumer Electronics division, said the Voice over IP phone, the VOIP841, is the first such phone to be based on Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications technology (DECT). Provoost was speaking at the news conference at the Internationale Funkausstellung, a consumer electronics show in Berlin on Thursday.

Philips and Netgear phones will come with a remote DECT base station that plugs into both the broadband connection and the traditional phone line and will have a full color graphic display, an integrated contact list, and a speakerphone.

Stefan Oberg, general manager, desktop and hardware at Skype said, "We are broadening our reach to mass consumers by offering them the opportunity to communicate via Skype without having to be tied to the computer."

"Skype has already introduced Wi-Fi phones and Skype for PocketPC wireless. Now Skype is taking the next step and working together with Philips and Netgear, to introduce PC-free cordless phones. The cordless phones for Skype launched today, give Skype users the flexibility to enjoy free Skype to Skype calls and inexpensive calls to ordinary and mobile phones anywhere in the house, at any time without a running computer." said Mr. Stefan Oberg reaffirming their commitment to provide best and cheap services to the consumers.

The Philips VoIP841 cordless phone will likely be available in December for around $150. However, availability and costing details about the Netgear phone were not available.