Skype launches version 3.0 and new calling plan

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

What better way to announce a new version of your software than to unveil, the same day, a great new subscription plan to reduce even further the costs for your users? Skype, the company behind the successful VoIP service, has done exactly that today in the span of an hour.

Skype, an eBay company, unveiled the third version (3.0) of their VoIP client for Windows and then revealed also a new subscription plan for unlimited calling. The new version adds several interesting features designed to further enhance the community experience of Skype users.

The first new feature is called Public Chats and allows the user to meet people with similar interests. Users can also set up easily and quickly personal chat rooms so talking with more than one person is a lot easier now.

The other main news is Extras that as its name suggests gives the possibility to add extra features to the VoIP software. For example two users can play games (like Backgammon) or can word on the same document simultaneously like if they were in the same room.

The other announcement of the day is new Skype Unlimited Calling plan. It is available only for Canadian and U.S. Skype users and makes it possible to make unlimited calls for twelve months. The flat rate is $29.95 per year but for those who sign up before January 31, 2007 the rate is just $14.95.

This is intended obviously for people that uses a lot Skype to call friends or parents that still don’t use this VoIP service. Obviously it will be still possible to pay on a pay-per-minute basis but for frequent users this is a great reduction. Lastly the unlimited calling plan does not "interfere" with calls between Skype clients that are free.