March 2007

If you're a US Skype user, you may have already noticed that the US Skype Store has had a thorough makeover. Whilst most of these home makeover shows suggest neutral colours and well-placed scatter cushions on the sofas, you'll be pleased to hear that Skype have instead gone for a more intuitive navigation, the ability to search by product or category and lots of shiny green rainbows.

With the new site comes a host of new money-off offers for the US as well, including $50 off SMC's Skype Wifi phone package (which includes a FON router, loads of Skype call minutes and Skype voicemail for a year), free shipping on orders over $50, and $40 off the Netgear SPH200D cordless Skype phone. In addition there's $30 off the Logitech® QuickCam® Pro 5000, $10 off the Logitech® Premium USB Headset 350, and $10 off the D-Link DPH-50U Skype USB Phone Adaptor.

There's also a whole load of Skype kit on the site that was previously not available, and so Skypegear's going to take the opportunity over the next few weeks to review some of the kit which (through, I guess, nothing less than sheer and blind negligence), we've managed to miss over the last few months.

US company Digital River are behind the new site, and will also be handling the logistics behind the scenes. For more details, just visit the store here.

"Space Management" may sound like something from a Star Wars movie, but, as any retailer will tell you, managing the space in a store is absolutely critical to successful business. For example, did you know that UK supermarket Sainsbury's managed to achieve a 40% gain in space utilisation from their tinned tomatoes in 2005 just by packing them in rectangular cartons rather than round tins? Genius!

So, what is "Space Management" all about, and what does it mean for Skype retailers?

Continue reading "Space management for retailers: a guide from Think Xtra and Skype at CeBIT" »

What is blue and white and has a rainbow on its front? No, it's not a funky
version of the Finnish flag - it's the newly launched Skype Retail Ready Solution.

Launched in co-operation with TX - Think Xtra, a European distributor focusing on innovative retail solutions, the Skype Retail Solution is designed to help high street retailers position Skype Certified products within their stores.

Continue reading "Skype launches unified retail solution at CeBIT" »

Now no-one likes paying for things and, as we know, it's far better to just win them in competitions if at all possible. Web User are a generous bunch, well tuned in to the nuances of human nature, and so have very generously put forward 5 DUALPhone 3088 cordless Skype phones (the ones you can use both to make normal landline calls and Skype calls on), and 5 SMC Skype wifi phones for members of the general public to win by answering a simple question:

How many registered users does Skype have all over the world?

A fair question, and I'm sure the three possible answers you have to choose from (171, 171,000, 171,000,000) won't tax the upwardly mobile, laser-sharp intellectual demographic that Skypegear attracts. So get over to Web User magazine, pick the right answer on this page, and hopefully some Skype goodies will pop onto your doormat very soon.

For those not yet convinced, check out Skypegear's Roadtests of the DUALPhone 3088 here, and the SMC WSKP100 Skype wifi phone here.

Continue reading "Win one of 10 top Skype phones courtesy of Web User magazine" »

This is pretty obvious, but if I'm brutally honest, the penny only really dropped for me in the pub talking with a few Skype employees the other day.

In a nutshell: If you have a Skype phone, why not have a separate Skype account for the phone, and one for your PC-based Skyping? A quick straw poll around the Skype offices showed that the Skype staff are a load of clandestine Scarlet Pimpernels, all of them having multiple IDs for different purposes. One of the Product Managers confessed to having a separate ID for his "music business", and others agreed they kept a separate account for home and for work.

This has solved a real problem for me: as an avid Skype user at work, I did need some separation with the account I share at home with my girlfriend, as when she works at home, she often sees first-hand all of those "essential" Skype messages which fly around from work. When you have a Skype phone, it can be even more useful to have a separate account for the phone to the one you use for regular Skyping.

Just a thought - if you have a Skype phone, do you find it easier to operate just the one account, or to keep a separate one for the phone and for your PC-based Skyping?

For those who haven't seen it yet, there's now an update available for anyone with an SMC wifi Skype phone. The update will allow you to use your SMC phone when you're out and about, wherever a FON hotspot is available.

Continue reading "FON-tastic: SMC wifi phone now works with FON wifi hotspots" »

The refitters have been in on the US Skype store tidying, re-jigging, and generally making sure everything's ship shape, and as you can see the newly facelifted US Skype store is now open for business. To celebrate the relaunch, Skype are offering free ground shipping on all orders over $80 to mainland US destinations.

In addition, there is currently a $20 mail-in rebate on the Netgear SPH200D dual-mode cordless phone (which Skypegear will be reviewing later this week...) in addition to the existing $50 discount, meaning all you US Skypers could have one sitting on your desk for an all-inclusive price of just $149.99 after the rebate, rather than the original $199 plus shipping price tag. For more info check out Trustedreviews (who gave this phone a hearty 8/10 in their in-depth review), and PC Magazine (who awarded it an impressive 4/5).

Continue reading "Free shipping on Skype phones & accessories in the US, and other offers..." »

There is a tendency for phones to be, well, a bit too phone-like: all boxy and eighties-looking. Futiro are an Irish-based company who specialise in making phones that break the mould: curvy lines, minimalist button layouts, shiny surfaces...oooh you could just eat them!

Whilst all of their phones are currently "corded phones" (ie not cordless), that's kind of missing the point. The range currently consists of three phones: the Solo, Terra and Luna. Let's look at them one-by-one:

Continue reading "Futiro's cuuurvy Skype phones now available in the EU & UK Skype store..." »

The Philips VoIP841 allows you to make calls both via your regular and line or, if you'd prefer, via Skype, without even needing to switch on your PC.

It's been a a fair while coming, but "digital home" buying advice website Hexus.lifestyle have managed to get their hands on one this week. The timing's great, as from March 8th Skype will be offering a combo of the VoIP841 phone and the VoIP080 phone (a corded phone that you plug into your PC) in the UK and Continental Europe for just £129 / E179.

Hexus' extensive 4-page long benchmarking test really gives the phone a good going over, covering every aspect from setup, through ease of use, to call and build quality. The verdict?

"Our take on the Philips phone is hugely positive-  almost worryingly so because we're thinking we must have missed some flaw or other."

A Hexus Media Recommendation duly comes Philips' way!

Continue reading "Philips VoIP841 receives Hexus Recommended award" »

Errr, well the Marketing guys at Three don't muck about with the messaging on their new product advertising, as you can see from the above. Reading between the lines on the above ad, it appears that maybe, perhaps, Three are now offering the whizzy E65 as part of their lineup of 'X-Series' phones.

Continue reading "Exclusive Nokia E65 now available from 3's X-Series UK" »