Skype for Symbian now in the Ovi Store

Published by Rafe Blandford at 10:32 UTC, March 3rd 2010

Nokia and Skype today made the formal announcement of the availability of Skype for Symbian. The application, which was released last month, is now available in the Ovi Store. The application implements a full Skype client including full support for instant messaging, account management, sending text messages and file sharing in addition to the Skype voice calling features (Skype to Skype and Skype Out).

During our testing overall call quality seemed to be very good, although clearly it is dependent on the connection being used. You will get the best results over a good WiFi connection. At times the client application can be a little slow, especially when starting up or dealing with processor intensive activities (e.g. processing a chat history). However it does match nearly the key desktop features (with the obvious exception of video), which is impressive for a mobile application.

It's interesting to note that Skype has also recently chosen to withdraw their Windows Mobile and Skype Lite (Java) clients stating that they were unable to provide the full Skype 'experience' that the company wanted to provide to its users. It is clear that Skype sees significant advantages in Nokia and Symbian's global reach, especially in markets where there is strong price sensitivity around telecommunication costs.

Incidentally the Nokia press release mentions in passing that Ovi Store downloads have now passed 1.5 million a day. With release like Skype becoming an increasingly common occurence that number is only going to increase as time goes by.

From the press release:

"Symbian enables us to bring smartphones to more and more people and ensures scale for our solutions and compelling services, such as Skype. We're seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day on Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users," said Jo Harlow, Senior Vice President for Smartphones, Nokia.

Russ Shaw, General Manager, Mobile at Skype said, "With Skype for Nokia smartphones, more than 200 million smartphone users worldwide will be able to take the Skype features they love with them on the move. Alongside Skype's relationships with operators and handset manufacturers worldwide, making Skype available direct to consumers will help millions of users keep in contact with the people that are important to them without worrying about the cost, distance or whether they are away from a computer."

Skype for Symbian can be downloaded through the Ovi Store or from the Skype website. There are a number of third party applications that enable access to Skype including Fring (which adds video support) and Nimbuzz.

Skype for Symbian is compatible with the Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia 5530 and the following non-touch devices: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51, Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 5320.

Postscript: Interestingly enough, the version being served up is 1.0.0.4, an update, although existing installed copies appear not to be checking for updates - so users have to go through the complete hassle of uninstalling Skype and then reinstalling, just to get the latest bug fix. Very disappointing. Skype needs to fix this.

News Discussion

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rafe I'll get some answers around that if I can. Please let me know if you have any other questions about Nokia and Skype and I'll try and get them answered during a briefing this afternoon.

Hi Rafe, could you please ask when skype will be officially supported on Nokia N86? Thank you. JKA

Quote:

Originally Posted by splus Link for Skype in Ovi Store says "this item is no longer available."

I suggest you get it from here instead - http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/symbian/

Though I imagine the Ovi Store will come back in due course - probably a server glitch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rafe I'll get some answers around that if I can. Please let me know if you have any other questions about Nokia and Skype and I'll try and get them answered during a briefing this afternoon.

Is this a bloody joke Rafe?!

The following non-touch devices are compatible with Skype: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51, Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 5320.

Where the hell is the N86?! The N86 is their most current non-touch flagship device with 8mp camera! Yet no Skype but they can do it for the inferior N85? Someone's taking the piss! The same applies for their free navigation Ovi Maps, no mention of it appearing for the N86 either!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered Is this a bloody joke Rafe?! The following non-touch devices are compatible with Skype: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51, Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 5320. Where the hell is the N86?! The N86 is their most current non-touch flagship device with 8mp camera! Yet no Skype but they can do it for the inferior N85? Someone's taking the piss! The same applies for their free navigation Ovi Maps, no mention of it appearing for the N86 either!

I think that you'll find Skype is written by Skype, so the N86 is hardly THEIR most current non-touch flagship.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered For those living in USA,Skype is not available on Ovi store: a search in OVI with Skype returns IM, Nimbuz and Fring but not Skype

Skype is not available in the Ovi Store for Nokia owners in the U.S.

Per a Skype executive, they pulled it due to an agreement that was made with Verizon Wireless.

There is a work around: go to the Skype site and download it there directly from your PC. It majorly sucks, and it's another negative for unlocked Nokia owners in the States.

You'd think Nokia, since this was a major marketing push for them, would make some kind of statement, announcement...or anything; just silence.

Here's the original item, reported on Boy Genius Report:
http://tinyurl.com/ye5w9br

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