New Linksys Skype phone

Tom's Networking has the scoop (hat tip: Mark Evans) on a *really cool* looking SKype phone about to be launched by none other than Linksys (owned by Cisco).

This is pretty cool for several reasons:

  • I like Linksys. I've always had a great experience with their products, which tend to be simple, easy to use, and...just work. Even though this product seems to be OEM'ed from another manufacturer, the Linksys brand means this product is likely to meet the standards of quality and usability of other Linksys products.
  • A dedicated Skype phone by Linksys/Cisco is a very powerful endorsement for Skype. Until now, it seems that most of the hardware that's come out for Skype has been from manufacturers that nobody outside of Asia has ever heard of.

A few salient questions on what may unhinge the future success of such a phone, and others like it:

  • This phone is cordless/DECT. Is this better than a Wi-Fi phone? Does it matter?
  • It appears the phone will be Skype-only. Should such hardware also be compatible with the PSTN? Other VoiP solutions? Or does that over-complicate things?
  • The base station is USB, so I'm assuming that the phone power and connectivity comes via the PC. Should it rather be plugged into a router, so the phone would still work and be chargeable even if the PC were switched off? Does this matter much?
  • The handset itself looks almost exactly like a standard cordless or mobile phone. While that's all fine, does this approach somehow miss a more innovative hardware UI enabled by Skype? Isn't something much, much better possible than the same old keypad layout? Or is this too much to ask for?

I wonder how much Skype gets paid for licensing it's name & network access to manufacturers like this. Could this be their real business model, one that would survive and even thrive in an era of deflationary voice minutes?

It's been said that Niklas Zennstrom looks like Bill Gates. Might that similarity not also extend into a Windows OS-like business model? Seen in this light, rather than a reseller of cheap voice minutes, that billion-dollar plus price tag looks somewhat more reasonable, no?

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