New Skype Phones
Netgear and Philips announce handsets that let callers make normal landline calls and also use the VoIP service.
Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV has announced a new phone that allows users of the Skype Internet telephony service to make calls without having to boot up their PCs.
The Voice over IP phone, the VOIP841, is the first such phone to be based on Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications 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.
Availability and pricing details about the Netgear phone were not immediately available.
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 computer knowledge.
In July, Skype announced that several manufacturers, including Netgear, planned to deliver Wi-Fi phones preloaded with the VOIP service provider's software client. The phones were slated to hit the market in the third quarter.
John Blau, IDG News Service
