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VoIP/Voice of Manchester, UK yesterday announced the release of its Cyberphone-W for Mac to the U.K. market. A Skype Certified Skype phone for the Mac . From the press release:
…. This product broadens Skype’s appeal to consumers who prefer to use a conventional telephone handset and who opt not to be bound to their PCs by headsets.
The Cyberphone-W for Mac has been designed to deliver very high-quality sound and features
- Leading edge design looks great on your desk!
- Tightly integrated with Skype, simplifying calling your friends whether they’re Skype users or not
- It looks and acts just like a normal phone
- Manage your Skype contacts direct from the keypad
- Skyping-out via the keypad
- In-built LED to indicate incoming calls, voice mails, on/off-hook status
Not having a Mac myself, an evaluation unit was sent to my graduate student daughter for the ultimate “typical consumer” usability testing on her recently acquired MacBook Pro. On her own she was able to set it up and now has a cost effective “land line” phone to complement her wireless phone. Speaks a lot about Skype’s insistence on only certifying “products that just work”. Its arrival timed nicely with the launch of free SkypeOut for calls within North America but also allows her to call her friends in Taiwan and Europe at much lower costs than wireless.
Cyberphone for Mac is the first Skype Certified product to be sold at Apple Stores in the UK on an exclusive basis for the first four weeks. It will then become more broadly available, including on Skype Shop. Availability in continental Europe and North America is to be announced. Seems like pricing will be around US$54 (£35.00).
Now if Mac owners could just take advantage of the MacBook’s relatively new iSight built-in video camera. To paraphrase the potential: “Lights, Skype for Mac 2.x, MacBook, Action!”
(Interesting that Google directed me to a Canadian Newswire service to find the press release.Also covered on MacMinute.)
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