From Business 2.0 Magazine - For millions of users, voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, is lowering phone bills for calls they make from their PC or land-line phone. But soon VOIP could cut cell-phone bills, too - most of all for international users.

It's a hard concept to get your head around: Many customers already pay a flat monthly fee for a bucket of calling minutes within U.S. But for business travelers, international students and immigrants, calling abroad can add up quickly. However, if they're already paying for a data plan, routing international calls over their phone's data connection — using VOIP — instead of a carrier's voice network, they can save considerable money.

• Read more

From Gizmodo - Polycom cut its teeth on conferencing hardware, and now it's teamed up with the oh-so-free Skype VoIP service for hands-free full duplex speakerphonage via a USB connection. There are two microphones strategically placed inside the unit, letting multiple people join in on the conversation. Controls on the front let you launch Skype and initiate and hang up calls. There's also a headphone jack, and then there's the 22kHz sound quality which Polycom calls "CD-quality conferencing.

• Read more
• Product page
  

From InformationWeek - Two appliances for Skype phoning – a speakerphone and a PC-less Wi-Fi phone – were announced Monday as the eBay VoIP unit stepped up its drive to spread the free service deeper into business markets.

The USB speakerphone carries a suggested retail price of $129 and is the first of a planned series of Skype-approved devices slated to be developed by Polycom and Skype. The hands-free Polycom Communicator is the size of a typical PDA and is available for additional PC functions like audio and music presentations.

•  Read more
  

From Gizmodo - The Netgear Skype WiFi phone SPH101 just popped up on Amazon, finally! It's not cheap– even though the list price is $300, it'll still cost you $249.99. The great thing is, you don't need a PC to use it, you can call anyone in the world on Skype for free, and all you need is a WiFi hotspot to do it.

• Read more
• Netgear Skype WiFi phone on Amazon
  

From InformationWeek - U.S. mobile phone sales to consumers in the first quarter increased more than 11 percent, as wireless subscribers threw out their old phones for new ones.

Shipments reached 34.8 million units in the quarter, as sales neared $2.3 billion, The NPD Group said. The increase compared to the same period last year was due to a strong demand for replacement models and from new subscribers.

• Read more

From Gizmodo, Designer Andre Minoli has created the hand-cranked Motorola PVOT phone, aimed at developing countries. It gives up a minute of talk time for every 25 turns of the crank, giving new meaning to the term "crank calls." All that cranking charges up a AA battery inside, powering a 125×125 dot matrix LCD controlled by a futuristic-looking "Eraser Shield" keypad.

Minoli's Motorola PVOT is a great design not only for developing nations, but it could come in handy for us developed countries, too, as we wind our way through Peak Oil and into World War III. If the phone's durable enough, it might even last until World War IV, which will no doubt be fought with sticks and clubs.

• Read Gizmodo Article  

WSJ.com is reporting, Helio unveiled a cellphone service that targets affluent young customers with games, video messages, blogging and other entertainment.

• Read WSJ.Com Article
  

Motorola continued to lead the U.S. market, boosting its share to 29 percent with the popularity of its RAZR models according to TechWeb.

•   Read more at TechWeb
  

Major wireless carriers in the U.S. are offering new services to the SMB market as they expect to cash in on the market's growing sophistication using business-oriented services.

• Read TechWeb Article