Skype is now available to Verizon Wireless (s vz) customers who are owners of BlackBerry (s rimm) and Android-based (s goog) smartphones, the New Jersey-based phone company said. The Skype Mobile service now works on nine phones and can be downloaded on these devices starting this morning. Kevin covered the news for us over on jkOnTheRun yesterday. We are going to do a review of the service and let you know how it works.
Verizon is milking this news for all it’s worth, sending out press releases, organizing press conferences and special events. Frankly, the company needs all the help it can get considering that its smartphone portfolio has no hot-selling devices, especially when compared to the iPhone (s aapl). (Related: Skype & Verizon’s Fear of the iPhone.)
As I outlined previously, the current Skype-on-Verizon deal is an exclusive between the two companies, though both of them are dodging answering this question. Skype on the iPhone still doesn’t work over AT&T’s 3G network, despite Ma Bell allowing VoIP calls over it.
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