A pair of U.K. mobile service operators are furious over Nokia's plans to support Skype in its upcoming N97 handset, Mobile Today reports.
Quoting anonymous sources, the report says Orange and O2 may refuse to carry the N97 or any future phone containing Skype. The providers want Nokia to nix support of the Voice over IP phone service. This apparently happened during "high-level" discussions among executives.
"This is another example of them trying to build an ecosystem that is all about Nokia and reduces the operator to a dumb pipe," one source said.
A spokeswoman for O2 was a bit more muted. "We are currently working with Nokia to understand their Skype service and the business model around it," she said. "We continually evaluate new applications and mobile services for our customer base."
Not all operators in Britain are so vehemently against Skype. T-Mobile supports it and the provider "3" also offers a handset with the service included. Skype doesn't completely replace regular phone service because calls are only free between Skype users. Skype calls to telephone numbers cost money, albeit pretty low fees. A pretty solid Internet connection is also needed to communicate clearly.
Sadly, instead of trying to promote and enhance the value of plain old cell phone service, O2 and Orange are trying to make it their "dumb pipe" the be-all-end all for voice communication. This mindset could come back to haunt them; with two other mobile providers offering Skype, lost subscribers could potentially be worse for business than a handful of unused minutes.
