At about 5:30 (GMT+1) this afternoon members of the Skype Public Chat discussion learned that not only was there a new beta version of Skype for Windows 4.2 available for download but also Skype had released its first beta version of Skype for Symbian (for Nokia smartphones).

Shortly afterwards, while listening to the final Gillmor Gang panel session at LeWeb, I downloaded, via the event’s WiFi network, and installed the newly available Skype for Symbian beta onto a Nokia E71 that I use on Spain’s Vodafone for emergency calls during my trips to Spain. As an initial test I then sent out a few initial Skype Chat test messages. While there were some long delays I finally did receive responses to these messages..

I then realized that the LeWeb official blogger sitting next to me had a Nokia smartphone and asked her to install Skype for Symbian on her N96. About five minutes later, as Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame was chiding Apple for not supporting VoIP over 3G networks, I made a successful Skype-to-Skype call between my E71 and her N96. While this call went across LeWeb’s WiFi network, the irony here is that Skype for Symbian is a complete VoIP client on a mobile smartphone and, according to Skype’s blog post:

Skype for Symbian works over Wifi or 3G data connection. We recommend having a unlimited data plan when using 3G connection.

I followed up with a successful Skype call to Andy Abramson at his hotel in Madrid, Spain where the voice quality was excellent in spite of the event’s background audio of the panel session.

My LeWeb deskmate has a Vodafone Netherlands voice and data plan and will let me know when she returns to Amsterdam this weekend if she can make Skype calls over Vodafone Netherland’s 3G network.

Skype for Symbian beta is claimed to be a “limited” beta; however, it supports:

• Free Skype-to-Skype calling
• Call phones with Skype credits or subscription
• Receive calls on your Online Number
• Instant Messaging
• Group conversations
• File sending and receiving

The important bottom line here is that Skype has finally released a mobile smartphone client that supports both 3G and WiFi from a full VoIP client with no intermediary servers as has been used on the 3 Skypephone over the past two years. Its use over the data plans of wireless carriers will test several aspects of smartphone services:

• Will carriers attempt to block VoIP clients’ services that bypass their inherent voice channel?
• Will smartphones have sufficient battery life to support a full day’s use of a VoIP client over a 3G network?
• How much data would be used during an average day’s use of Skype? (While many carriers claim to offer “unlimited” data plans, there are actually monthly caps of 5GB or more.)
• Where does a full Skype client provide an economic advantage over various voice plans, especially when it comes to making calls while roaming?

During my recent trips to Europe I have made heavy use of Skype for iPhone (and sometimes Truphone) over WiFi access points. Given the high charges for data while roaming, Skype for Symbian is still not a service that I would use over a “roaming” 3G network but I would continue to look for WiFi access points in hotels, restaurants and airports to access Skype on the supported phones. However, in my home country I can expect to make Skype calls from anywhere in Rogers 3G coverage areas using their relatively inexpensive data plan at little or no additional cost.

Update: Phil Wolff has more details and some caveats about this initial Skype for Symbian beta version over at Skype Journal.

Related posts:

• Is Rogers Setting A Benchmark for Net Neutrality Policies?
• WiFi: The Real Threat to the Mobile Carriers
• Skype Everywhere: Nokia and Skype Announce Ongoing Partnership
• 3 Pushes the Envelope Once Again: Offers Obligation-Free Skype Mobile Services
• iSkoot – Providing Carrier Friendly Access for Skype Calls

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The recent announcement of Skype’s decision to drop its Skype Extras (marketing) program initially caused much anguish across the blogosphere; however, more sober commentary has been appearing in the past few days. To recall the announcement:

1. Immediately: No new partner programs or upgrades will be placed into the Skype Extras
2. Going forward: Skype Extras will remain available via the Skype for Windows client until their certification expires (which may be up to a year).

Alec Saunders whose developer program experience crosses many platforms, in What Next, Skype?, reviews the “swift and brutal” reaction around the blogosphere, puts a perspective on the characteristics of good ecosystem programs and then measures up where Skype stands today. He concludes with:

17 points out of a possible 30. Even so, the only real killer flaw in the Skype developer program is co-marketing.  Since Skype owns the customer, they are the only cost effective channel by which a developer reaches the customer.

Without addressing these flaws, especially the co-marketing issue, Skype’s developer ecosystem will die.  It may take time, but developers will leave and go elsewhere.

Skype knows all of this, however.  The smart money is on Skype developing a new program, and judging by the recent spate of announcements around Skype in business, and the beefed up Skype for Business team, it certainly looks as if they’re going that way. It’s no coincidence that that’s where the money is too. [Author’s italics]

In No Skype Extras Anymore, Scendix CTO Christoph Buenger, a veteran at developing applications for both the Skype and eBay ecosystems, outlines in a PamNews blog post  why their products are not impacted by the shutdown of Skype Extras:

So how does this affect Scendix/PamConsult products? The simple answer is: not very much.

He goes on to review how Pamela only uses the Skype API’s; how the new upgrade of PamFax to Version 2.0 made the product totally independent of the Skype Extras system (they were the only developer who had incorporated Skype Credits into a product but they also use other payment services) and their “standalone” version of Pamela Call Recorder. He concludes with:

We believe that some changes are always a good chance to make something much better than it was before. For us, this means finding more ways to market our software and the opportunity to change the pay-as-you-go payment process in PamFax will be a great step forward in making our products even better.

So: R.I.P. Skype Extras System. Let’s find something better out there!

In Skype Says Next Generation Platform Will Embrace Developers Michael Arrington reports on a couple of weekend conversations with Jonathan Christensen:

Christensen says that the Extras announcement is not about Skype backing away from a robust developer platform. Rather, he says, Skype is focusing on a next generation platform that will hopefully address the deficiencies of the old program and open many more opportunities for developers to build on Skype services.

They went on to discuss third party applications that can make Skype calls directly and future web applications “leveraging Skype as a service”. But there are two reasons Skype has to continue to run on a client today:

• Maintaining high quality calls via their current audio/video encoding
• Skype’s p2p architecture which not only impacts latency issues but is also the major cost factor allowing free Skype-to-Skype conversations.

Read the post to see why Michael feels we’’ll first see desktop applications integrate Skype as a service first and how “the real win is when you can initiate Skype voice and video calls via web applications”. He concludes with:

Anyway, we’re looking a ways into the future with all of this. But one thing seems clear – Skype, which is happily soon to be under new management, will someday open its doors widely to developers.

Bottom line: Support for Skype developer activities is not dead; it’s evolving. No software partner’s business has been significantly impacted by the closure of the Skype Extras [marketing] program. Lots of suggestions about how Skype developer support should be executed going forward but it’s probably going to be an evolution rather than a “revolution”.

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