Today at the Mobile World Congress, Skype, Ericsson and Nokia have announced that they will enter into a partnership that will place the Skype software on a few Nokia and Ericsson smartphones.
The first Nokia handsets to to have Skype integrated will be N-Series smartphones, and the upcoming N97 will be the first handset to have it when it launches in June.
According to Electronista, “the software for Nokia handsets will allow N97 owners to make and receive free Skype-to-Skype voice calls over Internet hotspots or their 3G data connections. They will havethe ability to make low-cost Skype calls to landlines and mobile devices. Users will also be able to see which of their Skype contacts are online and instantly message them.”
Owners of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 will be able to download the Skype software next month for free, added the company.
The VoIP company has been striking deals recently, bringing Skype integration to Android-based phones and noting that integration may hit the iPhone soon as well.
Result for: nokia handsets
A program called Tunebite promises to strip the DRM off your Nokia Comes With Music unlimited downloads, all for the one-time price of £17.50.
Comes With Music, an unlimited music download program that comes with certain Nokia handsets, has Microsoft-powered DRM, but it can be stripped easily with the program allowing users to keep the music forever.
The program works by playing the tracks at 54x speed while re-dubbing them as non-encrypted files. Using this method, the DRM is stripped within seconds, even for long songs.
Should be interesting how long the program is available before Nokia or Microsoft says something.
Result for: nokia handsets
EMI has announced that they have joined Nokia’s “Comes With Music” unlimited mobile download service, meaning that each of the Big 4 record labels is now on board for the launch of the service this month.
Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group have all been signed for some time now, as well as a ton of indie labels.
Buyers of a few models of Nokia handsets will receive the service for free for one year in which they are allowed to download unlimited music for the year and then keep the music forever.
The service is free because the phones with it will sell at a premium.
