Skype eyes mobile entry via Android

The mobile sector is expected to see a new high profile entrant with Skype mulling over a debut through providing support for Google Inc’s Android.

Skype is a known name after having helped hundreds of thousands of consumers lower their long-distance phone bills through computer-based calling technologies. According to a news source, Skype will be expanding its software for making cheap calls to more than 100 cellphone models, including phones running the Android mobile operating system.

Skype said its mobile service would be available in 10 countries such as the United States, Britain, Poland, Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand. Its mobile software can be downloaded from the Android software application marketplace for Android phones, including G1, the first model on the market made by HTC Corp and sold by Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile.

It may be seen that even though the global economy is in a shambles, Skype has been left unhurt as consumers always look for cheaper options. Even business customers who have been slower to adopt Skype are now seeing it as a way to cut costs. This means the perception toward Skype has seen a sea change and it is now growing. Pointing out an instance of its growing popularity, the company said that wireless operator 3 UK, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, has reported a strong adoption for its mobile Skype service.

With more carriers now going for Skype, the company also boasts of as many as 370 million registered users. The company has rolled out its Skype Lite software that supports phones using Java software and devices running on Microsoft Corp’s Windows Mobile operating system. The company has become a preferred option for many a customer as it promises cheap mobile calls to overseas contacts and domestic landline phones.

Meanwhile, Skype is also looking at going beyond the desktop computer and the cell phone. It is looking at tapping the television scene too by pushing for an Internet-connected digital TV. It is expected that the new feature might be available in a year or so.