At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced a strategic relationship that will bring Skype to Verizon Wireless smartphones in March.  The new Skype mobile™ product enhances Verizon Wireless’ smartphones for users who have data plans by offering a new way to call around the globe, while also giving hundreds of millions of Skype users around the world the opportunity to communicate with friends, family and business colleagues in the United States using Verizon Wireless.

The two companies have created an exclusive, easy-to-use Skype mobile offering for 3G smartphones.  Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans can use Skype mobile to:

• make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype user around the globe on America’s most reliable wireless network;
• call international phone numbers at competitive Skype Out calling rates
• send and receive instant messages to other Skype users; and
• remain always connected with the ability to see friends’ online presence.

T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700 with Wi-Fi Calling from T-Mobile. It will be the first 3G-powered BlackBerry smartphone available through T-Mobile USA, and also the first smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM: TSX: RIM) that includes built-in support for both 3G connectivity and voice calls over Wi-Fi®.

Powerful and refined, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone offers top-of-the-line performance, functionality and features with a sophisticated, high-gloss black finish, chrome highlights and leatherette back. It includes support for 3G HSDPA networks around the world, a next-generation (624 MHz) processor, 256MB Flash memory, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g).

“Increasingly, T-Mobile customers are expanding the use of their BlackBerry smartphones by communicating with friends and family online and through the latest applications and services,” said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA, Inc. “Customers deserve a fast and reliable broadband experience, and that’s what we’re delivering with the new BlackBerry Bold on T-Mobile’s nationwide 3G network.”

For people who need to be connected, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone provides the industry’s leading mobile e-mail and messaging solution, and access to popular social networking applications, such as Facebook®. It features RIM’s distinctive, fretted highly tactile full-QWERTY keyboard for fast and accurate typing, and an innovative touch-sensitive optical trackpad, which makes for a great navigation experience. It also features rich multimedia capabilities with a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video recording, a sharp, dazzling high-resolution display, and a music and video player.

Integral to this agreement is a commitment by the companies to devote substantial resources to accelerate delivery of leading-edge innovation that will put unique applications in the hands of consumers quickly.  The two industry leaders will create, market and distribute products and services, with Verizon Wireless also contributing the breadth of its nationwide distribution channels.  Consumers will be able to purchase products resulting from the collaboration in Verizon Wireless retail and online stores.

"The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year, including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it."