Sony Officially Announces PSP VOIP Via Skype

Following earlier reports of forthcoming news, Sony has officially announced that late January will bring an update allowing both free and for-pay voice over ip calls through its PlayStation Portable via provider Skype. Sony notes that Skype currently has some 246 million members using the service via PCs, all of which will be reachable for free through the new service. The new feature will also bring Skype contact list management allowing users to view existing contacts and add new ones, and from-PSP Skype presence, so users can see which friends are online and available to talk. For an additional charge, managed through 'Skype credit', users will also be able to make SkypeOut calls to landlines and mobile phones, and receive SkypeIn calls from either via an assigned phone number. All of the features and settings will be able to be managed from the PSP itself when a Skype icon is added to the PSP's XMB after a firmware update expected later this month.