Now this, my dear pennypinchers, is one awesome news. Skype, that free internet calling service, will be offered in several smartphones in the next few months. Can you imagine going to Thailand and not be saddled by their cutthroat calling rates? Don’t get me started with China.

So far, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have joined the bandwagon. See below for the details.

Skype strikes deal with Nokia

BARCELONA–Skype is racking up deals with mobile handset makers here at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009.

On Tuesday, the company, which is owned by eBay, announced a partnership with Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, to put the Skype Internet calling software onto its phones. Nokia will initially offer Skype on its high-end smartphones, the N-series. The N97, Nokia’s flagship device that goes on sale in June, will be the first to have Skype embedded. The Skype feature will start shipping on the device in the third quarter of 2009.

Skype will be integrated into the N97 address book, enabling users to see when Skype contacts are online. It will also let people use Skype’s instant-messaging client. Most importantly, N97 users will be able to make free and low-cost phone calls over the Internet whether they are on a 3G cellular network or a Wi-Fi network. The Skype-to-Skype voice calls are free. And the SkypeOut service, which allows calls from Skype to landlines and mobile devices, offers low rates…. READ FULL STORY HERE