Skype continues to grow

Once the company has reached the 100 millionth user of voice-over IP telephony service, Skype announced the launching of two new premium services: SkypeIn and Skype Voicemail. These services will be available for all platforms of online communication: Linux, MAC OS X, Pocket PC and Windows.

VoIP services, like Skype, have a working principle similar to instant messaging between two or more computers. It allows establishing a direct connection between two computers and between a computer and a phone through SMS, this solution being more popular and more qualitative than instant messaging programs, like Yahoo, MSN or ICQ which allow only short text messages to be sent. Skype provides a bidirectional communication between computer and cell phone.

SkypeIn assigns users personal calling numbers, which can be used to receive calls generated by the Skype application or fixed and mobile phones. In this way, the user won't have to pay roaming taxes. The second service announced by the Luxemburg company is Skype Voicemail which allows users to administer their received messages.

By launching these new services, Skype sets new standards for mobile communications for several platforms including fixed telephony. In this way, communication becomes accessible even for those who don't have an Internet connection, but only a classic telephony line.

For SkypeIn, users have to select the area code, the prefix of the region they live in and the program will allocate a personal phone number. During testing period, subscribers from Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain and United States can buy up to three Skype system phone numbers .

Skype Voice mail allows sending of an audio message with a maximum duration of 10 minutes to a classic telephony user.

The price for SkypeIn services is 10 Euros for a three months period, and the subscription for one year is 39 Euros. Voicemail is cheaper: 5 Euros for the first 3 months or 15 Euros for a whole year.