Taipei 12 October 2005 – Skype, the Global Internet Communications Company, which makes it possible for anyone worldwide to make free high-quality phone calls via the Internet, has teamed with IPEVO™, a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of PChome Online specializing in Skype-enabled devices, to offer good design and affordable Skype devices in the US through IPEVO’s website.
IPVEO designs and develops a wide range of easy-to-use and affordable Skype devices, including corded and cordless USB phones, speaker phones and mobile devices, which can be purchased at its online shopping website www.ipevo.com.
PChome Online launched the first co-branded website with Skype in July 2004 in Taiwan. This collaboration helps make Taiwan one of the most successful markets for Skype. PChome-Skype has attracted 7.5M downloads and 2.4M people have registered with Skype, a number that continues to grow. PChome also offers Skype’s premium services such as SkypeOut, Skype Voicemail and SkypeIn and has attracted around 200,000 paid customers throughout Taiwan since November 2004. PCHome Online has established IPEVO to develop innovative and user-friendly Skype-compatible products for the US and Taiwanese markets.
"We are delighted that PCHome Online has taken the step to expand its success with Skype in Taiwan to launch in the US under the IPEVO brand. We believe that US callers will appreciate the convenient and simple-to-use Skype-enabled products that IPVEO will be offering. We feel that the collaboration demonstrates the success of our developer program and will help Skype continue as the most popular choice for free Internet calling throughout the country,” said Niklas Zennström, CEO and Co-founder of Skype.
Skype accounts for 46% of all North American VoIP traffic (Sandvine, Aug 2005) and already has 20 times more active users than its nearest competitor.
“Skype and IPEVO have established a strong and mutually beneficial partnership,” said Hung Tze Jan, Chairman of IPEVO. “Skype’s developer program has facilitated our ability to address customers’ needs for well-designed and competitively priced devices. IPEVO will team up with Skype to develop a wide range of consumer electronics products in order to serve our users in the best possible way.”
With the launch of the collaboration, IPEVO releases Free-1, a Skype-enabled USB phone with shortcut functions for Skype callers and available from www.ipevo.com.
About Skype Technologies S.A.
Skype, the Global Internet Communications Company™, allows people everywhere to make free, unlimited, superior quality voice calls via its award-winning innovative peer-to-peer software for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Pocket PC platforms. Skype is available in 27 languages and is the fastest growing voice communications offering worldwide. Since its launch in August 2003, Skype has been downloaded more than 180 million times in 225 countries and territories. 58 million people are registered to use Skype's free services, with more than 3 million people using Skype simultaneously at any one time. Skype earns revenue through its premium service offerings, and has a growing network of global affiliates, and a community of developers working with the Skype APIs. Skype Technologies SA is headquartered in Luxembourg and has offices in London and Estonia. www.skype.com
Skype is not a telephony replacement service and cannot be used for emergency calling.
About IPEVO Inc.:
IPEVO, Inc. a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of PChome Online specializing in Skype-enabled devices. PChome Online Inc. is Taiwan’s leading Internet portal and online-shopping company with over 10 million subscribers. PChome Online has teamed with Skype Technology S.A. since July 1st, 2004 to offer the first co-branded version of Skype, PChome-Skype (http://www.skype.com/company/news/2004/pchome.html). PChome-Skype has attracted 2.3 M registered users (as of Sep. 2005) and continues to grow. Taking advantage of PChome's Skype users experience and Taiwan's state-of-art IT/PC technique with highly competitive manufacturing cost, PChome further expands its partnership with Skype and its presence with Skype-enabled devices (http://www.skype.com/company/news/2005/pchome-products.html). Bearing this heritage from PChome Online and teaming up with Skype, IPVEO designs and develops a wide range of good design, easy-to-use and affordable Skype enabled devices like cord/cordless USB phone, speaker phone, mobile devices etc. In order to serve Skype callers in the best possible way, IPEVO also operates a friendly online shopping environment to make purchasing Skype devices and services easy and fun.
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