Skype pulled from Nokia's Ovi store in the US, Verizon Wireless to blame?

By on Mar 6, 2010 at 11:44 AM
General March 6, 2010

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Skype users that own a Symbian-powered Nokia handset will have to go the extra mile to install Skype on their handset. As noticed following Wednesday’s debut of Skype in the Ovi store, Skype is reportedly not available for Nokia owners in the US. In response to an email from Venture Beat, Sravanthi Agrawal, a member of Skpye’s corporate communications team, said the following:

“Skype has made a decision in the United States to not promote the Skype for Symbian app through the Ovi Store. We did this so that we could drive more attention to the recently announced Skype and Verizon Wireless agreement. This was a marketing decision — plain and simple.

“Skype users in the U.S can still download Symbian by going directly to Skype.com.”

The supposed reason behind this removal is not surprising considering the controversy over the removal of the Windows Mobile version of Skype from Skype’s website, the removal of Skype from the Android Market, and the rumored delay of the 3G-enabled version of Skype for the iPhone. Unless this policy changes or is revealed to be incorrect, anyone unduly affected will have to search a little harder to find a version of Skype to install on their handset or sign up with Verizon Wireless.

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  • pji

    So Skype has made all of the moves to remove the Symbian version from the US Ovi store, Android versions from the market, and WinMo version from its own site – And that is Verizon’s fault? That is some sweet, sweet logic my friend.

    • http://www.newsbot.com.br Antonio Carvalho

      I agree, the one to blame here is Skype, they are doing all sorts of obscure moves that harm their users in detriment of this Verizon deal. They must remember that most of us pay for skype services (Skype out, in, etc), so they should think a little harder before putting as their last consideration when doing deals with big names.

      And for Verizon? Their are just doing their job, being a big telco trying to dominate in any way possible even if this pisses of everybody, but they all do that, too bad Skype is one of them now.

  • Skype

    @ Bob

    Sorry to see you go. Suck it

  • Ray

    Why does Kelly Hodgkins title most of her articles in question format?

    • kate

      Then none of the article has to be fact… old FOX noise trick

  • elgee02

    Well it’s very questionable to levy the blame on VZW for this but for the sake of playing along…

    I think this is the first time VZW is blamed for removing a feature on a phone they AREN’T selling, lol

  • http://www.electricgamer.com Pocket

    “Skype users in the U.S can still download Symbian by going directly to Skype.com.”

    It does not make sense, why make a customer or potential customer go through an extra step to download your application because of marketing. Does not sound like good marketing to me.

  • Droid Lover

    Verizon is not evil. They work 24×7 because their customers depend on them 24×7. They know their best was good today. Tomorrow they’ll do better. They are VERIZON WIRELESS.

  • Confused

    So Verizon enters into a exclusive agreement for a product, they are evil… Apple enters into a exclusive agreement to limit their phone to one carrier, that’s great thinking… Apple deletes apps because “they are useless” or “too sexy”, just for the bettering of the customers… amazing the double standard that exists on BGR lately.

  • ManassasVA

    Nice picture of the Verizon Wireless store in Manassas, VA.

  • cmd64

    For those of us who know and love our Symbian and Maemo devices, going directly to a website to download it’s software is not bothersome or tedious in the least. We specifically searched out the smartphone device and OS that is NOT advertised on TV. We expect to do our homework when it comes to what we put on our devices. NOKIA users should not feel slighted by a marketing decision. Our handsets are used by 39% of mobile phone owners! Who’s crying now?

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

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