Richard Wray
The Guardian
Tuesday October 30 2007

The mobile phone company 3 unveiled its latest attempt to get customers to join the UK's newest network yesterday as it launched the Skypephone, which allows users to make almost 70 hours of free calls each month by using the internet.
About 2.5 million people across the UK regularly use Skype, owned by eBay, but they have to use their computer or a relatively upmarket smartphone to make free calls to other Skype users.
3 has been working with Skype for well over a year and already offers the service on its niche X-Series platform, which has several hundred thousand users. The new phone, made by the Chinese handset manufacturer Amoi, is designed to appeal to a much wider audience. Owned by the Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, 3 has about 3 million active UK customers but has shown little growth over the past year. It hopes the Skypephone will lure new customers and help it retain existing users.
The Skypephone, available from Friday, will be free for contract customers spending at least £12 a month on normal calls, texts and internet access. It will cost £49.99 for pre-pay users, who can use Skype as long as they spend at least £10 a month on traditional services.
Alongside up to 4,000 minutes of internet telephony - or VoIP - calls a month, customers can send up to 10,000 monthly Skype chat messages.
Skype will receive a royalty for every customer signed up by 3.