With rumours over the launch of GPhone from Google still swirling around, One of the Google’s competitors, Skype is all set to launch its long awaiting Skype phone across the globe. Skype phone will be intially launched in UK and the launch dates of other confirmed countries in the list, Austrailia, Italy, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Republic of Ireland is yet to be announced. Skype phone which is named 3Skypephone, as Skype joins hands with “3 Mobile”, a mobile media company in UK. £49.99 priced 3SkypePhone comes up with 3G, a 2-megapixel camera, mp3 player, mobile TV and internet built in with it. Calls to other Skype users whether they are using Skype phones or using Skype software installed in their PC will be absolutely free provided the mobile user is in contract with 3 Mobile or topped up PAYG 3 credit monthly. Users can also send text messages to other Skype users for free. To be precise on the numbers, 4000 minutes of VOIP calls and 10,000 skype text messages are allowed for free per month and I’m sure it is more than enough for normal users. No mention about the SkypeIn and SkypeOut facilities, the widely used premium service of Skype in PC , is available. 3SkypePhone comes in 3 handy colours including black, white with blue lining and white with pink lining and looks very nice and attractive.

Surprisingly US is not in the initial list and India’s exclusion is very obvious. In India, as the authorities are trying to pass a bill to ban or restrict the VOIP technology services, chances for Skypephone in India is very minimal for the near future.