Skype announced a collaboration with Hong Kong mobile operator 3 to launch a handset that lets you make free Skype-to-Skype calls and send free Skype instant messages from the phone to other Skype users no matter where they are.

Dubbed the 3 Skypephone, the device is a fully featured 3G cellular phone with Skype built right in. The phone makes Skype calls and conventional wireless calls, and can be used to access 3's Internet services.

"Skype is now truly mobile," Michael van Swaaij, acting CEO at Skype, said in a statement. "It couldn't be simpler -- put Skype in your pocket and make free Skype mobile calls and send free Skype instant messages at the touch of a single Skype button."

Giant Step for Mobile

The 3 Skypephone was developed by Skype and 3 in partnership with Qualcomm, using Qualcomm's Brew platform to enable Skype to work with core handset features such as address book and messaging. The 3 Skypephone could see a potentially wide audience when it officially launches on November 2, as 3 operates in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, and the UK.

"Thanks to 3, Skype has now taken a giant step forward in the mobile arena. It takes an innovative operator like 3 to challenge traditional thinking and offer the kind of product other operators are still shying away from," van Swaaij added.

John Jackson, a wireless analyst at Yankee Group, agreed that the 3 Skypephone challenges traditional thinking -- and said this is just the beginning.

"This is the type of disruptive device and service offering has all the hallmarks of everything we are expecting in terms of the way the Internet domain is going to seek inroads into the traditional cellular domain," Jackson said. "This is a market manifestation of this clash of cultures."

Open-Ended Questions

Kevin Russell, 3's UK CEO, described that disruptive approach by saying that 3 wants to make mobile Internet available to everyone, a goal that demands services that are simple to access and affordable. "To enable Skype to go mobile in this way brings free Internet calls together with an affordable 3G handset," Russell continued. "Mobile has the potential to massively increase access to Internet calling."

However, Jackson said there are many open-ended questions. By virtue of 3's minority positions in most of the markets it serves, he explained, the company is compelled to behave in a contrarian and disruptive manner. "3 is compelled to innovate," Jackson said. "The question is whether or not it will be enough to counter not just the likes of Vodafone but the likes of Sony Ericsson and Nokia as well."

That, Jackson said, will have a lot to do with the price, design, brand, and functionality of the 3 Skypephone. His conclusion: This type of innovation is great for the market and great for consumers. He said we can expect to see more products like the 3 Skypephone in the future.