Catching Up: iSkoot Gets Third Party Recognition

Over the past few months there have been a few Skype Journal posts about iSkoot and how they provide mobile device access to Skype’s services. Of course, iSkoot also provides the software behind the Skypephone on the 3 network in nine countries. Recently iSkoot has been getting some accolades from third parties:

Nokia named iSkoot for Skype as a featured Application of the Week earlier this month on both the Nokia site and the S60 site.

iSkoot loads your Skype contact list right onto your S60 device display screen, and with just a quick click of a button, you can call your contacts. With Skype online status information, you get the benefit of Skype’s awareness of user presence. You can see who is available to call or chat, and also change your own online status to let others know that you are free to interact with them. iSkoot allows you to talk to anyone around the world from your S60 device and offers network service in over 40 countries. Calling is as easy as just clicking on a contact on your S60 device.

Two weeks ago, John Halamka – Chief Information Officer at Harvard Medical School and the CareGroup Health System (to name a few)– named iSkoot for Skype as his “Cool Technology of the Week.” Using his Blackberry Curve 8320 he has also figured out how to use “local” pay-as-you-go: SIM cards to reduce or eliminate roaming charges while traveling abroad.

The iSkoot client places a regular local phone call to an iSkoot gateway server, then the gateway server places a Skype call, bypassing all long distance charges. While connected to the iSkoot gateway, the iSkoot client enables you to

* See who is signed in and view their online status
* Manage your own online status
* Click to call a contact
* Click to chat with a contact
* Make low-cost calls to any phone number, anywhere in the world using SkypeOut
* Receive calls from Skype users
* Add or remove friends from your contact list
* Refresh your contact list automatically or on demand

And finally, Alec Saunders of iotum where, amongst other titles he is Chief SquawkBox Officer, recently spent three weeks in Europe traveling with his family. Having been supplied with a 3 Skypephone, he came home saying that he found the 3 Skypephone was the most consistent means for him to maintain the limited degree of connectivity he required while on a family vacation.

Previous iSkoot posts:

• Skype on Mobile: North American Carriers’ Backhaul is the Ultimate Bottleneck
• What VoIP on Mobile Can Learn from SS7
• iSkoot – Providing Carrier Friendly Access for Skype Calls.
• eComm 2008: iSkoot Presentation
• Mobile VoIP Services — The Ergonomics of Making a Call Counts…
• Skypephone 2 at 3 August 18?

Hat tip to the iSkoot blog for pointing us to these recognitions.

Tags: iSkoot, Skype, John Halamka, Nokia, S60, Alec Saunders, SquawkBox, iotum