Skype FREETALK Wireless Stereo Headset is for today’s Skype users… not tomorrow’s… not yesterday’s.

SkypeJournal's recent series on Skype's forward moving strategies included a discussion on the relevance of hardware. Well this Christmas, a piece of hardware near and dear to my heart will be ready to ship. I've written about the FREETALK in another post, so no need to repeat.

The nicest thing about this device... it is a very simple and elegant hardware solution that imporves the way *current* Skype users experience voice chat.

The reason I believe in the FREETALK headset so much, is that it is geared for the hear-and-now. It does not distract Skype-users from the now --- it does not promise a usage model that is not mature, and similarly it does not try to attach legacy behaviors to a modern experience, which Skype is rightfully so.

Many other types of Skype hardware -- which you will see sold on Skype.com -- come in the form of gear that is trying to bring Skype to Skype-non-users by appealing to lagcy usage models. The most popular tactic is to make the hardware look like a old-fashioned desk-telephone, and allow the user to use simple number-dialing to place calles on the skype network. To me, this is a hard sell. If this usage model is so important, then the user won't value the new features... and then you gotta sell on lower cost, and even that's a pretty complicated message to convey. To realize the added value of Skype, you gotta teach people about then new features. People who are willing and able to grok this, are already more attached to their PCs, anyways.

The other way Skype is trying to branch out via hardware is by hopping onto other broadband enabled platforms... wi-fi phones or 3G mobiles. Today, that too is cumbersome at best. Perhaps Android has ways of addressing this, but today, Skype on a 3G handset only competes against the entrenched telephony service. If a user runs Skype on their mobile phone, first of all, it's a rare breed who can connect all the dots, and even then it's a niche long-distance, world traveller scenario that can realize any real benefit.

I'm rambling a bit... the key is, the FREETALK leaves all these wish-ware devices for the early-early adopters. The FREETALK is hear to help last year's early adopters of Skype, break away from their desktop, and roam free about the house while using their favorite VoIP service that has become part of their connected repertoire.

They'll also find it a damn good PC accessory.

Comments

[Freetalk Wireless Stereo Heads]

[...] good sign.  The Freetalk Wireless Stereo Headset has been on sale since before Thanksgiving, but is finally in stock!  It is already listed as a bestseller which is no suprise to me, since [...]

[KosherGoddess]

Just gor the FREETALK.
It heats up withing minutes and wirethat goes into computer melted, it was really scary...
What's up with that? I just opened the box.
PLS help...

[mtc]

There is either something wrong with your USB adaptor that came with the Freetalk, i.e., it's defective... or your USB port on your computer is not operating to spec wrt to supplying power to devices. Does the port still function?

[Ujjal Dhar]

USB port is fine.. Infact it works for a less than a min then stops abruptly.. any pointer on how i can get it replaced..?

[Delbert Blake]

Is it possible to get a spare dongle for my head set also the free talk head set has one bad feature the battery dies without warning and cuts the phone call off which is not good.

Regards;

Delbert Blake

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