Internet telephony has changed the way we communicate with one another. Ever since the new standard of exchanging phone calls via IP (Internet Protocol) had been established, the market was open for anyone to offer the one package that people would use. Because like in any technology, there is always that one big name that runs the business. Operating systems are made by Microsoft, the international news source is CNN and internet telephony – well, it is provided by Skype.
This young and innovative company seems to be the brand of choice when it comes to calling people via the internet. According to their webpage, the two Scandinavian founders of Skype proclaim “simple, reliable and friendly communications”. The young Swede Niklas Zennström and his Danish partner Janus Friis, who have stirred up the Internet-world by introducing the file-sharing platform KaZaA, introduced the first running version of Skype in July of 2004.

Skype enables internet telephony through a headset, a microphone and the Skype software application. Alternatively use the Gigaset M34 USB in combination with the Skype application. It is that easy to talk to others for free. The second version Skype 2.0 even features live video calls as a special feature. Another interesting add-on is the free voice-mail, which works like a “virtual answering machine” and has been introduced with version 1.2.

Today, Skype is already available in Germany, Estonia, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland and the USA. Others will follow soon. According to the company, more than 266 billion minutes of internet calls have been facilitated already. Making up an average of around 200,000 simultaneous Skype-calls all the time.