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No-computer Skype phones coming
Plugs straight into broadband.
By John Blau, IDG News Service
Published: 10:54 GMT, 01 September 06
Philips has announced a new phone that allows users of Skype's VoIP service to make calls without having to boot up their PCs.
The VOIP841VoIP phone, is the first such phone to be based on DECT technology, Rudy Provoost, chief executive officer of the Philips Consumer Electronics division, said Thursday at a news conference at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
On Thursday, Skype separately announced that Netgear will also deliver a Skype phone that operates without a PC.
Typically, Skype phones work through a computer or a laptop. The new Philips and Netgear phones plug into a broadband connection jack and a standard home phone jack. They can send and receive Skype calls over the Internet as well as calls from a regular home phone number.
The VOIP841 will be available in December, Provoost said. He gave no pricing information.
The new generation of phones could help Skype reach a larger group of consumers who are not tech-savvy and tend to shy away from phone gadgets that require the inconvenience of using a computer.
In July, Skype announced that several manufacturers, including Netgear, planned to deliver WiFi phones preloaded with the VoIP service provider's software client. The phones were slated to hit the market in the third quarter.
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