It’s been a couple of weeks now since the team at 3mobilebuzz.com sent me a pair of 3 Skypephones to test out.

Their arrival caused a bit of a stir in my house, especially with my three year old son who wanted to know why daddy needed three mobile phones (I already have a Nokia 6120 classic on 3 as my personal mobile). The chaotic opening means no pictures or video of the event, but John Griffin has some nice pictures of the same handsets here.

The two Skypephones are now safely in use by other members of my family, and we’re all using mobile to mobile Skype to keep in touch, rather than “standard” voice calls.

The deal for customers is that Skype to Skype calls are free on 3 on contracts and for pay as you go customers who keep their phones topped up each month.

I’m particularly interested in how this offer will change the market for mobile voice calls – to date voice over IP technology in various guises (branded offers like Skype and Vonage as well as unbranded clients) have remained relatively niche. I suspect understanding of the technology has been a barrier to adoption, and in this sense a branded handset with fully integrated Skype may help reduce these barriers.

More posts to come on the 3 Skypephone over the coming week or two, including a handset review, a look at how the handsets could be used in the small business environment and hopefully an insight into how the 3 Skypephone’s social media relations are being handled.

[tags]3, skypephone, VOIP, 3+skypephone, mobile, reviews[/tags]