Skype soon available on Nokia, Ericsson

San Francisco: EBay Inc will begin offering the Skype Internet-calling software on phones made by Nokia and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, part of an effort to expand Skype's reach on mobile devices.

Nokia's Nseries phones will come with Skype preinstalled in the third quarter, Skype said in a statement.

Owners of Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1 can download the software next month, allowing users to call other Skype members for free.

Skype is forging ahead with partnerships even as its future as part of EBay is in question. EBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe said last month that Skype doesn't fit well with the company's other businesses.

The unit could fetch up to $1.8 billion and companies such as Google Inc and Microsoft Corp could be interested, said an analyst.

"It makes a lot of sense for EBay to sell the asset," said Devitt, who has a "hold" rating on the shares. "It has very little to do with the core business. It also has more strategic value to a Microsoft or Google."