At the beginning of last week, Verizon and Skype announced a partnership at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. If you missed it, you probably want to pay attention especially if you have AT&T, live in San Francisco, and have been thinking about finally switching carriers.
I know of more than a few.
Verizon, in the partnership, has now allowed Skype on their 3G network using a special client called Skype mobile starting next month. The question now is not if Skype is coming to Verizon but if this deal is going to be exclusive to Verizon. Turns out, it more than likely is.
From Gigaom:
The deal, my sources tell me, is an exclusive partnership between the two that will last for a period of 2-3 years. No other U.S. carrier is going to get a similar Skype offering – which also bolsters my theory that Skype can help Verizon distinguish itself amongst smartphone offerings, especially the iPhone.
Of course, these are just sources and nothing official has come from Skype or Verizon but it will be interesting, if this is true, to see what happens with Skype’s iPhone application running over AT&T. I also think this report also forgets a big competitor in the VoIP market, a little Bay Area based company called Google who happens to have something called Google Voice.
So, for all of you VoIP users and Skype lovers in San Francisco, it might be time to take a look at Verizon if this is your thing. If you believe in this coup and you'll probably get answers next month, you can find your nearest Verizon store in the city here.
For more info, contact Adam: admillios@gmail.com
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