Coming soon: mobile Skype phones

Two tech blogs---Slashdot and Deviceforge--are reporting that Linksys will debut a cordless VoIP handset for Skype customers as early as next week.

Linksys's website offers this description: "Get cordless handset convenience when you use Skype! Now you don't have to sit in front of your computer when you want to talk to your friends." The handset can receive incoming calls, and make outgoing calls via Skype.

Slashdot says the device will sell for $130; it also says that Linksys is requiring that users' PCs run Windows, not Linux.

Skype of course was bought by eBay in a blockbuster deal last year, and Linksys, a former Inc. 500 company and Inc.'s entrepreneurs of the year winner in 2004, is owned by Cisco.

Mike Hofman

Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City.