LAS VEGAS, Jan 09, 2009 (AFP) - Skype, which brought cheap and free calls to the Internet, is doing the same for mobile phones.
The Web-based voice and text messaging service owned by auction giant eBay announced here on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that it was bringing its Internet communications software to mobile phones.
It said it had developed a "lite" version of Skype that can be downloaded for free to more than 100 models of Java-enabled mobile phones or those using Google's open-source Android platform.
The T-Mobile G1 runs Android software while phones from LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsugn and Sony Ericsson are Java-enabled. Skype "lite" is not yet available for the Apple iPhone.
Skype said the "lite" version with the ability to make free Skype-to-Skype calls and low cost calls to landlines and mobiles is available in 10 countries: the United States, Britain, Poland, Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand.
Skype has more than 370 million users around the world.
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