• Reuters, Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:45 AM

Internet telephony company Skype has secured a landmark deal with mobile handset maker Nokia to preload Skype software onto some of its new smartphones, beginning in the third quarter of this year. Skype's technology allows consumers to make cheap long-distance calls over the Web to land lines or cell phones; calls to other Skype users are completely free. The eBay company has been slowly moving into the mobile phone arena with deals with operators like Hutchison Whampoa's 3.

"We believe that mobile is incredibly important to our future," Skype Chief Executive Josh Silverman told Reuters at the Mobile World Congress, the industry's largest gathering, which is underway in Barcelona this week. Silvermana said Nokia would begin installing the software in its high-end N-97 series of smartphones. "The Nokia announcement is really a major milestone. When we partner with manufacturers we are able to deliver a superior experience," Silverman said.

You can download Skype onto any smartphone, but bundling allows the software to integrate with the phone's features, like address books. As Reuters points out, most mobile operators are wary of Skype, fearing they will lose revenue through customers paying little or nothing for calls. However, Silverman said that 3 had actually seen its revenues rise 20% for consumers using Skype phones.

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