Benny, understandably opening the network may erode the user base, but one also has to consider the two types of users Skype has; only the ones that use free Skype calls will be likely to jump ship, but they generate no revenue anyway. The paying customers who have Skype-In number, unlimited calling subscription, a Skype2Go number, etc., will stay with Skype as long as they see enough value for their money. Considering the momentum that Skype has and the fact that opening its network will not make it any worse than it is now (au contraire, actually), and with the possible value added by Nokia's support, I would expect the user base of devoted paying customers only to grow.

Ysss, you are right that vexing the telcos sounds like a bad idea, but I do not see how doing so if you own Skype is any worse than putting a third party Skype on all your devices and opening it for use over 3G. If anything, Nokia may have more leverage against the telcos if it owns both the hardware and the software in this situation, like others do. BTW, thanks a lot for planting in my head the image of telcos holding dingdongs... NOT!

In the end, I agree with Texrat and others that Nokia should have bought Gizmo back in the day, it would have cost them much less too, even if they had to bid over Google.

Rauha, I see that you don't believe in the usefulness of video telephony and in most cases you may be right, but having the option is undeniably better than not, and we do have the technology. Let us wait and see what Apple does, I agree with kojacker that the 4G iPhone may change drastically people's opinions, even if it's short lived. The lack of camera in the iPad hints that Apple don't bet much on video either, but you never know.

All in all, there seems to be a consensus that, while buying Skype would be a waste of money, development or acquisition of an (open source) video telephony technology by Nokia is a wise step. So, if my initial question was not featuring Skype but a generic compatible product, my guess is that most would have voted yes. With that, I don't believe this thread was a complete waste of time