Last week we reported that Skype was set to launch an official iPhone app and beginning tomorrow, the much anticipated application will be available in the Apple App Store.
Users will be able to make free calls to other Skype users using the phone’s built-in Wi-Fi. The company also announced that a Blackberry version is coming in May, and the two moves follow Skype’s addition of its service to Nokia, Windows Mobile and Android phones in the last year.
PCWorld was given a sneak peak of the program and says it does all it needs to do, and the interface is great. One glaring problem is the fact that you can not use cellular networks to make Skype calls, and are restricted to the Wi-Fi. The app will make international phone callers very happy however, as it will eliminate high fees associated with using AT&T’s cellular network to make international calls.
Result for: cellular networks
According to Motorola, the upcoming 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard should allow HD video to finally be available on cellular networks. Motorola promises to prove its theory next week at the Mobile World Congress.
The company also stated that they will demo the standard and show examples of HD video moving in both directions including something they call “HD blogging”. Motorola will use LTE to stream live HD video to a set top box so that viewers can follow mobile phone footage in real-time. From the opposite direction, the standard will be shown Streaming an HDTV feed from home straight to the handset, cutting out the need for re-encoding.
Motorola also added that the very low lag times of LTE will make real-time actions finally possible. To demo their statement, the company will show off a racing game played online against other players. They will also show VoIP calls made using LTE.
The company did not say how long until the technologies would be commercially available but LTE should launch in some areas by early 2009.
Result for: cellular networks
TeleGeography, a research firm, has reported that New Zealand will be expanding its cellular networks and that iPhones could be on the way.
Telecom New Zealand’s director of mobile operations, Martin Butler added that it is a “good inference that the company will bring over the iPhone.” The communications company is currently building a brand new $300 million NZD GSM/EDGE network which should be able to support the 850MHz Frequency of the iPhone. The new expansion of the network is expected by November and will reach 97 percent of New Zealand’s residents.
Butler also noted however that the network will support 3G broadband, but for the first few months or so it will only cover NZ’s three largest cities, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. “To achieve anything above EDGE — a “2.5G” technology — many users will need to fall back to the company’s CDMA network, which supports EVDO Revision A,” he added.
