Last week Skype and TELUS Mobility announced an agreement, where Canada’s third largest national wireless carrier will be closely working with Skype for free Skype-to-Skype and low cost SkypeOut international calling. While Canadians can use Skype for iPhone and Skype for Android on any Canadian carrier offering iPhone and Android phones, this agreement represents the first formal agreement between Skype and a Canadian wireless carrier with value-added services.

To give some background, both TELUS Mobility and Bell Mobility were spinoffs of legacy landline carriers where TELUS covers British Columbia and Alberta while Bell covers Ontario and Quebec. Since their respective cellular networks commenced operations back in the mid-1980’s , both have expanded to cover the entire county for wireless services; in TELUS’ case they acquired a major Bell/Rogers competitor who covered Ontario and Quebec.

However, whereas Rogers, the leading national carrier has always supported GSM protocols, TELUS and Bell both launched their services using the CDMA protocols (a la Verizon and Sprint in the U.S.). The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, where Bell Canada was the “official carrier”, was the stimulus for Bell Canada to upgrade their network to GSM-compatible HSPA+ service in November 2009.

But this is a large country, 90% of the Canadian population lives within 160 kilometers (100 miles) of the 6,000 km (4,000 mile) U.S.-Canada border. So the capital cost for a new network infrastructure, so long yet so narrow, runs up quickly. As a result Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility partnered to build one 4G/HSPA+ network infrastructure to support the two retail operations. One ironic twist is that, at the time of the network’s launch in the fall of 2009, Bell and TELUS both launched an offering for the iPhone 3G S (and later iPhone 4) which already had support for HSPA+.

Launch of this network broke not only the Rogers Canadian monopoly on the Canadian iPhone franchise but also its monopoly on international roaming for visitors to Canada (since most of the world’s carriers supported GSM). There also occurred some legal and regulatory battles (Bell/TELUS vs Rogers) over the promotion of each network’s speed ; effectively they ended up in a draw. (Note also that Canada’s two legacy CDMA carriers were offering iPhone a year before Verizon could launch a CDMA-compliant iPhone in the U.S. market.)

From its launch in late 2009, TELUS has called their network a 4G 21Mbps network, with a speed increase to 42Mbps this year and plans to go to 4G/LTE “coming soon”. So they certainly have the data speeds required to support Skype calls over a data network using a native carrier-agnostic Skype client.

Under the leadership of CEO Darren Entwistle TELUS has been noted for aggressive, “outside-the-box” marketing initiatives that appeal especially to a younger demographic . The most recent example occurred earlier this week when, following release of a OECD report pointing out that Canadian carriers had some of the highest international roaming charges anywhere, TELUS came back immediately announcing they would be reviewing their roaming plans with a view to lowering roaming costs.

Upon reviewing the Skype/TELUS press release, along with responses to some questions I posed to Skype’s PR agency, here is how I see the positioning of the service:

• TELUS customers will be using Skype for iPhone and Skype for Android installed on the relevant devices via downloads from the respective application stores or via the web at skype.com/m.
• TELUS will be reinforcing the customer experience by providing enhanced customer support for TELUS customers using Skype on their smartphones
• Skype Credit can be purchased directly from the TELUS customer’s mobile phone with the transaction billed to his/her TELUS account
• A Skype edition LG Optimus Black phone will be launched in July by TELUS to give customers easy access to Skype through a pre-installed icon on the home screen, a detailed “getting started” guide, and Skype Credit to begin making calls to landline and mobile phones immediately
• TELUS customers will be able to make free Skype-to-Skype calls worldwide as well as use Skype’s Instant Messaging presence and chat features.
• TELUS  customers will be able to make calls to landlines outside Canada (and mobile phones in countries where phone owner pays for inbound calls) using either Skype Calling Plan subscriptions or Skype Credit on a pay-as-you-go basis.
• Carrier data charges will apply when used over the 4 G network. TELUS recommends a Data Flex plan or Wi-Fi connection when making Skype calls (according to the TELUS website)
• The Android-based LG phone will support Bluetooth connectivity (not available with Skype for iPhone currently)

Here’s my take on the announcement:

• This is Skype’s first carrier arrangement involving carrier-endorsed support of the native Skype client on a mobile smartphone as compared to the carrier-specific “Skype mobile” arrangements with Verizon and 3.
• It’s a major marketing move by TELUS to associate itself with leading edge services without the need for any major capital equipment costs (such as “Skype mobile” gateway servers) other than those already planned for their 4G evolution.
  • There are ongoing operations costs for TELUS involving marketing and customer support.
  • Skype does not have to develop a carrier-specific application for these services
• Skype’s significant data requirements will drive demand for TELUS data plan subscriptions and ARPU when the customer is making calls, including Skype-to-Skype calls, from within Canada.
• For the supported smartphones Skype basically takes over TELUS’s responsibility for managing TELUS Mobility’s international calling with Skype revenues coming from Skype Calling Plan subscriptions and Skype Credits required to make international calls to the PSTN.
• One would have to assume the above two revenue drivers would incorporate revenue sharing between TELUS and Skype.
  • Question: are there any Skype software royalties involved based on customer revenues?
• Will the LG Skypephone support Skype mobile Video that was announced for Verizon at CES 2011 or an equivalent service?
• When roaming internationally, it would be wise to turn off 3G/4G and only make Skype calls from WiFi connections in hotels, airports, restaurants, offices and other WiFi hotspots – which are quite prevalent in Europe from my own experience over the past two years.
  • Is WiFi growing as a Stealth Carrier? Can it be a viable alternative to roaming charges?
• Skype-to-Skype messaging will certainly impact TELUS revenues for SMS text messaging services but Apple’s recent iMessage announcement will probably have an even larger impact on carrier SMS messaging revenues
• With no native Skype for BlackBerry application, TELUS’s Skype service will not be available to their BlackBerry customers.

One final but very important concern: will the supported phones have enough battery life to support this initiative? I have covered this issue previously with some suggestions.

And one irony: While there are no Canadian Skype Online numbers available due to a conflict between a regulatory issue and Skype’s past policies re e911 services, TELUS Mobility customers can now set up as many as ten Skype Online numbers in any of the 26 countries (U.S., U.K. included) where Skype Online numbers are available. Calling a “local” Skype Online number in those countries, an “expat” relative or overseas customer can reach a TELUS Mobility customer via Skype on a call that would have no termination charge revenue for TELUS.

Bottom line: Skype is once again being endorsed for its ability to be a marketing tool that attracts a younger “always-on” demographic seeking lower cost communications and new communications services. Skype is a service that has a low implementation cost for TELUS while taking advantage of their higher speed network, yet expands TELUS’s appeal to a country where international communications plays a significant role not only for business but also for the various ethnic communities that want to keep in touch with relatives and friends in their country of ethnic origin.

We look forward to following its actual implementation, especially the launch of the LG Skypephone and its feature set, over the next couple of months.

Having been invited to attend a BlackBerry Torch launch event in Toronto a week ago Monday, I have now experienced RIM’s latest smartphone for about ten days. Suffice it to say, as a veteran BlackBerry user, it certainly elevates BlackBerry’s feature set to a level that is very competitive in today’s smartphone market.

So what’s new – relative to my previous Bold 9700?

• combining a touch screen display with BlackBerry’s traditional keyboard
• BlackBerry 6 operating system
• a WebKit-based web browser that delivers a state-of-the-art smartphone browsing experience
• universal search
• an accelerometer that allows operation in both portrait and landscape mode
• a 5M-pixel camera with flash
• enhanced multimedia support
• significantly enhanced social networking support

To comment on some of my experiences:

Migration from a Bold 9700 to the Torch: using the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Manager’s “Switch Devices” feature, the entire migration process required 20 to 30 minutes, including all my installed applications. Desktop Manager 6.0 is more user friendly and has a much easier migration process than previous versions – key when you’re trying to appeal to a consumer market.

However, for many applications, such as Twitter and Social Scope it was necessary to log in again; effectively a positive security feature. The biggest challenge is organizing the applications within the various categories across which you can swipe in the main menu: “All”, “Favorites”, “Media”, “Downloads” and “Frequent”. Once organized finding an application using touch screen gestures becomes much faster.

The Touch Screen and Its Keyboard: Touch with all its gesturing effects brings a significant productivity improvement to the handling of emails, media and web browsing. All the traditional ways to use the touchpad and keyboard remain available but for the majority of applications it becomes much easier to use the touch screen as opposed to the four function keys, touchpad and traditional keyboard. For example, it is now possible to simply swipe a finger left or right to move through your Messages, including emails.

As for the Touch screen keyboard: it simply confirms that my fingers are too large for a touch keyboard – works fine for entering a few characters but I revert to the hardware keyboard for any serious typing such as longer email replies.

Bottom line is that the touch screen and hardware keyboard are significant complements to each other and bring the advantages of each where appropriate in context of the application. And, being a true multi-tasking smartphone, the touch screen has features that make application switching much easier.

Note there are a few applications that are currently not sensitive to the touch screen, the most significant being the Google Mobile suite, including GMail, Google Maps and Google Reader. Here you can continue to use the touchpad but trying any gesture on the touch screen has no effect. I’m sure Google and RIM are working on a resolution of this situation. But almost all my other applications are appropriately touch sensitive.

The Browser: Not only is the WebKit-based browser the first truly reliable browsing experience on a BlackBerry; it also brings in features such as “tabs” that make browsing a much more manageable activity. Combined with the touch screen’s gesturing, such as the two finger expansion and pinch for zooming/unzooming, BlackBerry’s OS 6 browser has become on par with my iPhone browsing experience. Actually one advantage of also having the BlackBerry’s touchpad available is that it can be used for the precision cursor location required when two or more links are very close to each other such as on the PGATour.com mobile website.

The Torch also includes an accelerometer to allow portrait and landscape mode viewing in the browser; however, if the hardware keyboard is open, only portrait mode is available. On the other hand, when viewing YouTube videos they always come up in landscape mode. One of those small but important features that contributes to the device’s user friendliness.

Overall the BlackBerry 6 browser is a much more reliable, user friendly (and satisfying) experience.

Universal Search: within BlackBerry 6 is a search facility that not only searches the web but can search the entire BlackBerry. Basically hit the search icon on the status bar, enter the search term(s) and hit return. The applications containing the search term(s) will show up; click on the application and it will take you to the search term(s). Included in the applications is an option to do a Google search. In my world there can never be too many search opportunities, whether in Outlook, Skype chat messages, Gmail on the BlackBerry or iPhone, Google on the desktop, or locating emails from a contact on my BlackBerry.

Social Media: When I arrived at the Canadian BlackBerry launch event, one of Canada’s top social media guru’s, Amber MacArthur (@ambermac), author of Power Friending, was demonstrating the Torch’s social media features. Full disclosure; through a recent series of her columns in the Globe and Mail, it was apparent Amber remains a hard core BlackBerry user. But it quickly became apparent why she was carrying out this role at the launch event. BlackBerry 6 includes a comprehensive “Social Feeds” application where you can readily view your stream of Twitter, Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and five other IM feeds either in one stream or filtered by application. In addition swipe to the left and you can view a stream of selected RSS feeds. A very comprehensive interface that has the potential to challenge my favorite Twitter/Facebook client – Social Scope. (Social Scope, which has BlackBerry 6 compatibility, has the ability to follow individuals and specific hashtags as well.) In summary, Social Feeds is a new feature that will readily appeal to anyone managing social media.

Of course, BlackBerry Torch includes RIM’s unique social networking tool, BlackBerry Messenger, that, in its latest incarnation, provides instant PIN-to-PIN chat, photo and file transfer along voice messaging. I continue to use it when I really need to grab a contact’s attention and using other Internet messaging applications, including email, as an intermediary can not get the message across fast enough.

And finally, BlackBerry integration with applications. Many BlackBerry apps are integrated tightly with the Address Book and other primary BlackBerry apps such that, for instance, a Contact’s picture will be retrieved from FaceBook if it is not available from an Outlook Contact synchronization. From a Contact in the Address Book, one can immediately go to her/his Facebook or LinkedIn page or locate an address in Google Maps.

Bottom line: This review highlights the features that became apparent over the course of my first ten days with the BlackBerry Torch; there are many other more subtle ones. For any BlackBerry aficionado it’s a “must” upgrade that puts the BlackBerry technology performance on a par with either iPhone or Android.

RIM’s real challenge is to attract new BlackBerry adopters and recruit more application developers. Certainly the PlayBook announcement earlier this week, with its underlying QNX OS, appears to brings to the table many of the tools required to assist the latter challenge. And RIM’s continued promotion of BlackBerry Messenger, a unique application that has bailed me out on many occasions, as well as its ongoing reputation for the most mature smartphone email operation and high level of security help with the former.

Of course the final piece of the puzzle for full support of real time social networking would be that missing BlackBerry SuperApp: a carrier agnostic Skype for BlackBerry; Amber, a longtime Skype user and enthusiast who used Skype for TV reporting long before Oprah, would have loved to have been able to demonstrate it.

And why the timing for this post? BlackBerry Torch launched yesterday on five Canadian carriers: Rogers Wireless, SaskTel, Telus, Bell and Virgin Mobile

Three more announcements this week that should help these challenges:

• Press Release: Research In Motion announces BBM social platform
• Press Release: RIM launches BlackBerry Advertising Service
• Press Release: RIM to launch free BlackBerry Analytics Service

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Two announcements yesterday, when meshed together, create the setting for Skype to become, de facto, the ‘”unofficial” personal communications software provider for the 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. next February:

Skype President Josh Silverman today posted: “Good Move AT&T”:

Since launching our iPhone application six months ago, people have downloaded and installed Skype on 10% of all iPhone and iPod touch devices sold – making it clear that people are extremely interested in taking Skype conversations with them on the go.

All of us at Skype applaud today’s announcement by AT&T (in an FCC filing to be published shortly – update, it’s here in PDF format) that it’ll open up its 3G network to Internet calling applications such as Skype. It’s the right step for AT&T, Apple, millions of mobile Skype users and the Internet itself.

Bell Canada’s Mobility service and Telus yesterday announced both the launch of their new joint-venture HSPA+ network across Canada next month and their agreement to be selling Apple’s iPhone amongst other 3G/GSM phones such as Nokia’s line. In fact, as shown on the right, the existence of the new network, with the identifier “302880”, can already be detected via the iPhone’s Carrier settings .

The implications of this announcement:

• Bell Mobility and Telus expect their HSPA+ network to completely replace their current CDMA/EV-DO network within five years.
• Bell Mobility and Telus will be providing direct competition to Rogers who, to date, has been the sole GSM carrier in Canada and will be able to offer a full range of 3G GSM phones – not only the iPhone but also Nokia’s GSM-exclusive line of phones.
• As a benefit of their current monopoly Rogers has also been the only carrier offering Apple’s iPhone since its Canadian launch in July, 2008. Canada now becomes one of the few countries with multiple carriers offering the iPhone.
• As another benefit of their GSM monopoly Rogers has been the sole network available for roaming by visitors from outside the U.S. and Canada as well as AT&T and T-Mobile customers from the U.S. Since athletes and visitors coming to the Vancouver Olympics from outside North America will have GSM phones, Bell Mobility and Telus will now be able to draw away from Rogers a significant portion of the roaming business that otherwise would have accrued by default to Rogers.
• Bell Canada is the “official” communications carrier for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Bell Mobility has built out their new HSPA+ network from the Telus network connection in Vancouver along the Sea-to-Sky highway to Whistler, site of the alpine and cross-country skiing events as well as bobsleigh, luge and skeleton “sliding” races.
• Additional communications capacity between Vancouver and Whistler has been built by Bell Canada for Internet communications, the 35 to 40 Mbps voice and data backhaul required for each of the wireless towers and the HD 5.1 surround sound television coverage that will include all events. No doubt a lot of fibre has been installed as BC Highways rebuilt the Sea to Sky Highway over the past few years to meet the Olympics’ inherent demands both additional vehicle capacity and enhanced safety. Being the “official” carrier this will benefit Bell Canada’s revenue stream also.

This raises the question of whether an HSPA-only service can run on the iPhone or BlackBerry Bold both of which currently only support 3G. The answer is Yes; HSPA will support 3G devices.

However, an HSPA+ network can only fall back to a 3G network capability when full HSPA capability is not supported by a device. But the iPhone and BlackBerry Bold also support 2G/EDGE networks.

As a result should a Bell Mobility or Telus customer leave an HSPA+ coverage area, there is no EDGE available for fall back when outside these areas. For example,when we drive the freeway from Toronto to Ottawa, we see EDGE for most of the trip except near Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa where Rogers 3G coverage exists. Either Bell and Telus will require roaming agreements with Rogers to provide non-urban service or they will not be able to offer as complete coverage to their customers.

Of course, those landlines will be able to support Skype on laptop PC’s using Ethernet or WiFi connections. But combining the two announcements along with Skype for iPhone’s recent availability in Canada, can Skype become the overall de facto “unofficial” personal communications software provider for the 2010 Olympics? Questions to be answered:

• Will Skype release a version of Skype for iPhone that supports both WiFi and 3G as the underlying wireless protocols prior to the Olympics?
• Will Skype finally release Skype for BlackBerry? (to address Phil’s desire for Skype on a multi-tasking smartphone)
• Will we see execution on Skype’s agreement with Nokia?
• Will the various communications and “Internet cafe” rooms for athletes and press be equipped with enough power sources to keep the various smartphones charged conveniently?
• Will Bell Canada have the same policy re Net Neutrality as Rogers who has publicly stated their primary business in providing Internet access and not managing applications or specific customer uses?
• Has Bell Canada signed the appropriate international roaming agreements with carriers around the world?

Certainly it’s within the realm of current technology to support Skype over wireless networks, whether WiFi or wireless carrier. Bell Canada touts their 2010 Olympics commitment as being “The first all-IP Olympics”. The question that remain:

• To what extent will the Skype ecosystem actually be able to execute on, and take full advantage of, this underlying IP-based communications infrastructure?
• Will Skype’s popularity, ease-of-use and combined voice/chat/video feature set make it the de facto “unofficial” voice, chat and video personal communications software provider for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics?

Call it Skype Everywhere by Stealth…. but can Skype execute on the challenge?

Disclaimer: Bell Canada, including its Bell Mobility wireless business unit, is the official communications services provider for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Skype is a software application, with over 500 million registered accounts worldwide, that uses these communications services for the purpose of voice, instant messaging and video conversations; however, Skype is in no way affiliated with, or endorsed, by the 2010 Winter Olympics Committee.

Full disclosure: For over thirty-five years the author has personally observed the growth of Whistler from a small and remote “boutique” ski area with one tragically slow 4-person per cabin gondola lift and a few double chairlifts into North America’s number one rated ski resort covering two mountains and capped off last year by the opening of a 4.4km peak-to-peak gondola that takes riders as high 436m above the valley floor. Concurrently the Sea-to-Sky highway has grown from a twisty, up-and-down adventure (and risky) roadway with some sections on wooden platforms on stilts anchored to rock walls over canyons to a safe multi-lane, yet still scenic, roadway. (I still consider it one of Canada’s most scenic highways.)

• A fully redundant fibre-optic network between Vancouver and Whistler to support essential broadcast traffic. Bell has successfully laid fibre to the front door of every major Olympics and Paralympics venue, and will ultimately connect all of the 130 competition and non-competition venues to our dedicated Olympics network
• Bell’s fibre-optic network will provide all voice, data and broadcast services for fans, media, athletes and officials from around the world, and will be the backbone that enables all Olympics and Paralympics connectivity. This includes 400,000 private radio calls, 10,416 hours of dedicated TV broadcast coverage to more than three billion viewers, timing and scoring results delivered in the blink of an eye, and more
• The highest level of reliability and redundancy and the most up-to-date technology for the full range of Olympics telecommunications services, including voice, data, broadcast video and audio, wireless PCS and private radio
• Provision of all hardware, cabling, logistics and support staff
• An unprecedented level of support to the Rights Holding Broadcasters, in particular the Broadcasting Service for the Olympic Games
• Internet portal services enabling an interactive, multilingual window to Canada and the world
• The first all-IP Olympic Games
• All built to minimize environmental impact by co-locating equipment to minimize footprint, coordinating construction schedules to reduce waste and using IP-based technology to dramatically reduce cabling and infrastructure needs

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Skype Access, where a Skype user can go to any Boingo WiFi access point and use Skype Credits to pay for Boingo service on a “per minute” basis via Skype Credits, has so far only been available via Skype for Mac 2.8 beta launched in early January. However, as a St. Patrick’s Day present, Skype announced that they would give away 10,000 free minutes of Skype Access for one week from March 17 to March 23 00.00 GMT. Skype will pick up the first 30 minutes of an individual user’s session under this promotion.

Having failed, shortly after launch in early January, to get Skype Access to work at a local Starbucks, where Bell Mobility has a partner agreement with Boingo, I returned to the same Starbucks (Streetsville in Mississauga, Canada) this afternoon. I can now report that, on launching Skype for Mac 2.8 beta on a MacBook, Skype Access was immediately recognized and a WiFi session commenced.

During this time I successfully made an excellent quality Skype video call to Dan York where the technical specs showed the video to be 640 x 480 @ 15 fps (or slightly greater – recall that Mac webcams do not meet the 30 fps network transmission specifications required for Skype High Quality Video). At 25 minutes I was warned that I only had five more minutes to use Skype Access free; while I certainly went beyond five minutes, I do not see any charges against my Skype Credits when looking at my call history.

Using WiFi at a Canadian Starbucks (provisioned by Bell Mobility) now gives me five options for acquiring WiFi access:

• Skype Access (~C$0.23 per minute using Skype Credits)
• Bell Mobility (C$0.15 per minute via credit card)
• Bell Mobility (C$0.15 per minute charged to my Rogers Wireless account)
• Starbucks Card (free for up to 2 hours daily provided you have used your Starbucks card in the previous 30 days, also available over AT&T in the U.S.).
• Boingo (~C$11.50 per month, suitable for road warriors, provides unlimited access at thousands of North American locations)

Obviously Skype Access is a service that one would use as a last resort in attempting to make WiFi access. For instance, need a quick email check or browser lookup while in an airport waiting room or at a Starbucks between meetings on the road, Skype Access becomes a convenience. Definitely not a service I would use for a two hour meeting requiring Internet access at a Starbucks in Canada.

I also took the opportunity to check out Boingo’s access services. When I booted the MacBook, I immediately received notification that I was at a Boingo access point. Turned on my iPhone with the Boingo client installed; once again I was able to make a connection. However, this required me to navigate through three or more Bell Mobility “login” pages on the iPhone – including having to re-enter my Boingo login data at one point – tedious but I was eventually connected.

I then attempted to access Boingo WiFi on my BlackBerry Bold. Once again the new alpha Boingo client for BlackBerry recognized I was at a Boingo access point; however, i was not able to login successfully. A report is forthcoming to Boingo contacts but I also have reason to believe there is an issue with the BlackBerry WiFi access algorithms on my older, but most recent Rogers, version of BlackBerry firmware in this case.

The key point here is that WiFi access for road warriors is continuously expanding, not only in terms of number of locations but also variety of service options available, even at one location. And Boingo, whose story I have followed since its launch in 2001, continues to expand not only its locations but also the platforms supported.

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At MacWorld’s Showstoppers event this evening Skype announced Skype for Mac 2.8 beta, with two major new features as well as several minor ones.

Screen Sharing

The most impressive feature is a form of basic screen sharing. Either a segment of your screen or the full screen is converted into a virtual webcam such that the screen can be viewed in any Skype client via the Skype video channel. While only a Mac can currently be a source for this screen sharing it can be viewed on any Windows, Mac or Linux client as video.

Skype for Mac’s screen sharing feature is sufficient to support discussion issues as a complement to a voice and/or chat conversation; it is NOT by any means a replacement for fully featured desktop or application sharing offerings such as Yugma, Inner Pass or IBM’s Lotus Sametime Unyte. It’s “just” screen sharing. In fact, it is one of two options on the Skype for Mac’s “Share” button, the other being file sharing/transfer.

Below is an example of a full screen image of a shared MacBook screen as seen in a detached Skype video window on my Windows laptop.

Skype Access

The second major feature, Skype Access, provides WiFi access for your MacBook or MacBook Pro via any Boingo access point. While I’m told it has been tested at many of the over 100,000 Boingo hotspots worldwide, I could not get it to work at a local Canadian Starbucks listed as a Boingo hotspot location. But then, this is still beta (and the problem may be with Boingo’s interface with Bell Mobility). ([Update: on a March 19 visit to the same Starbucks, Skype Access worked with no problems.]

More importantly is to look at the “use case” for Skype Access. Cost for using Skype Access over Boingo is US$0.22/€0.16/C$0.23 per minute using Skype credits.

Within a user’s home country, Skype Access is probably more expensive than local alternatives; this is certainly the case in Canada. However, I can see the value if I am outside the home country and wanting to make Skype/SkypeOut calls, check email or do some web browsing at airports, restaurants, coffee shops and other Boingo hotspots as an alternative to much higher cost roaming wireless calls (for instance roaming U.S. to Canada on Rogers runs at $1.75 per minute) or $40 per day Internet access charges at some European hotels.

With unlimited use Boingo subscriptions at $21.95/month for North America or $59/month Global, Skype Access is more appropriate for the occasional traveler as opposed to the hardened road warrior.

It reminds me of the use case for PamFax where you can send faxes directly from, say, your hotel room for about $0.20 per page while avoiding a hotel’s much higher $1.00/page charge for faxing. One other common feature between Skype Access and PamFax: both use Skype credits as the primary currency.

Other features in Skype for Mac 2.8 beta:

• Skype for Mac 2.8 continues the use of a “drawer” attached to a Skype chat window; from the list of active chat sessions shown in the drawer you can select which session you want to view. But now there are three levels of prioritization available for those chat sessions. In addition chats can be sorted by name or date/time.
• The process for adding contacts to a chat session now simply involves clicking the “Add a Contact” button and entering the added contact’s name.
• Your Contacts’ Mood Messages can be tracked via a “Mood Message” chat session. While this can currently only be initiated on Skype for Mac 2.8, your mood message chat session will show up as a chat session on, say, a Windows client logged into the same account. Neat for keeping up-to-date on mood message changes, especially when a mood message provides location or reference URL information; it provides a Twitter-like experience.
• Add notes to contacts: when you go into a Contact’s profile there is a separate tab for entering personal notes about that contact.

Dan York, with a lot more Skype for Mac experience than I have had (I just acquired a MacBook ten days ago), has provided a much more detailed review of all the new features He has also produced an excellent You Tube video for his Emerging Tech Talk series:

Skype for Mac 2.8 beta can be downloaded here January 6. Full Release Notes

Skype Posts: Share Skype Blog, Skype Garage Blog

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