Skype for Palm Pre: Possible, Not Doable for Now
The Skype VoIP and instant messaging client is very popular with users from all over the world, no matter if they use Skype on their Windows-powered machine or on their iPhone. But what if you want to stay in touch with your friends via Skype, on a different kind of device, something like the newly released Palm Pre? We already know that it is capable of synching with iTunes just like an iPhone does, so could it once again mimic the iPhone and get a dedicated Skype client?
According to executives at Skype, putting Skype on the Palm Pre is something that could be done in the future, but for the time being the company will focus on the mobile applications it has developed for other platforms – WinMo, Java-enabled smartphones, Android and Apple’s iPhone.
The official statement that Skype released on the topic: “We are focused on delivering the best Skype experience for mobile consumers that we can, across any cell phone or mobile operating system. If someone has a cell phone, we want them to be able to use Skype on it. That’s our vision and we’ve already delivered new mobile applications for Windows Mobile, Java-enabled cell phones, Android-powered devices and the iPhone in the first half of 2009. As things are evolving quickly in this space, we will continue to keep our eye on Palm’s Pre and webOS platform, which seems to be getting good traction in its first weekend. But we have nothing to announce at this time.”
It might be that the Skype execs are waiting to see just how popular the Palm Pre will become before they go ahead and green light a webOS version of Skype. At least they did mention that they have their sights set on Palm Pre – which is not particularly good news for all the hundred of millions of Skype users out there, but it’s better than nothing at all.
Just to cheer you up, Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows was released last month and it comes with the following:
- Screen Sharing: share your screen with other Skype users.
- Send contacts: take contacts from your list and send them to other Skype users.
- Import contacts: import contacts from external address books, including Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL and LinkedIn.
- Birthday reminders: you will receive an alert when it is the birthday of one of your Skype contacts (alert appears at midnight, local time; if you do not use Skype that day, you will not see the alert).
- Skype browser toolbar improvements.
- Enhanced call quality.
- Several bugs have been fixed.
According to executives at Skype, putting Skype on the Palm Pre is something that could be done in the future, but for the time being the company will focus on the mobile applications it has developed for other platforms – WinMo, Java-enabled smartphones, Android and Apple’s iPhone.
The official statement that Skype released on the topic: “We are focused on delivering the best Skype experience for mobile consumers that we can, across any cell phone or mobile operating system. If someone has a cell phone, we want them to be able to use Skype on it. That’s our vision and we’ve already delivered new mobile applications for Windows Mobile, Java-enabled cell phones, Android-powered devices and the iPhone in the first half of 2009. As things are evolving quickly in this space, we will continue to keep our eye on Palm’s Pre and webOS platform, which seems to be getting good traction in its first weekend. But we have nothing to announce at this time.”
It might be that the Skype execs are waiting to see just how popular the Palm Pre will become before they go ahead and green light a webOS version of Skype. At least they did mention that they have their sights set on Palm Pre – which is not particularly good news for all the hundred of millions of Skype users out there, but it’s better than nothing at all.
Just to cheer you up, Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows was released last month and it comes with the following:
- Screen Sharing: share your screen with other Skype users.
- Send contacts: take contacts from your list and send them to other Skype users.
- Import contacts: import contacts from external address books, including Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL and LinkedIn.
- Birthday reminders: you will receive an alert when it is the birthday of one of your Skype contacts (alert appears at midnight, local time; if you do not use Skype that day, you will not see the alert).
- Skype browser toolbar improvements.
- Enhanced call quality.
- Several bugs have been fixed.
