Press reporting on the 3skypephone : the new skype hype and some questions for the support desk.

As picked from the google top ten news search on skype :

New Hype With Skype
Skype, 3 Unleash Phone for Free Calls Red Herring
3's Skype phone is go Register
3 and Skype launch VoIP mobile calls VNUNet.com
Free internet calls as Skype mobilises
The Register: ‘Skype is a kind of freestyle MVNO’
Skype mobile phone launched
Will 3's Skypephone change mobiles forever? Tech
November 2 launch for 3Skypephone Camera Core
3's Skype phone official
Interesting: Covad, Vonage, SkypePhone, Akamai HD, Hypres & Apple ...
3 Italy launch Skype cellphone that encourages mobile VoIP use
Hot import?
3 cosies up to Skype
Skype Launches Its Mobile Phone Overseas
Comment: Skype and 3 deal likely to scare industy

Product info here : www.three.co.uk/skypephone
Skype the 3Skypephone Press Office.

General questions the uninformed people will ask (who reads manuals these days...) :

• can it work with another simcard than the 3 simcard?
• in what countries will it really work?
• when I am in Belgium, can somebody from the UK call me on Skype without out any roaming costs.
• what type of call can it make?
• can i send/receive email with it?
• is it better than the Iphone ?
• can it be unlocked ?
• does it get hot like the skype wifi phones ?
• can it be used over wifi ?
• does this phone work with other IM program (like www.fring.com that allows other IM's)
• can skype users from abroad (let's say outside the UK) call me on my cellphone ?
• what happens when my Skype is offline and somebody calls on my 3skypephone ID ?

Time to digg into the Skype or 3skypephone forum. Who do we call by the way when we got a problem ? Where is the Skype / 3 helpdesk ?

It would be great to see that other operators/carrier make a simular phone, or is this a propietary solution dedicated to one carrier and one phone. We know how long that will lasts. People want freedom. Freedom to roam... People want to stick in any SIM-card into any cellphone and call any number. Some people also want to login to wifi/wimax to be able to use Skype free, totally free, even without a dataplan. I know I do that with my simple Nokia E70 phone via www.fring.com.