nancy_gohring
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Logitech offers new VOIP products

news
Aug 14, 20062 mins

Logitech introduces a speakerphone and cordless handset designed for VOIP calling

Logitech introduced an array of new products on Monday designed for VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) users, including a keyboard with dedicated call management buttons and a speakerphone.

VOIP service provider Skype worked with Logitech to make some of the products exclusive to Skype in Europe. The European version of the new Logitech EasyCall Desktop includes a Skype-specific keyboard with dedicated buttons for launching Skype, making a call, ending a call, changing a user’s online status and speed-dialing.

The package also includes a mouse and headset as well as a speakerphone, which eliminates echo and has control buttons such as volume, mute, call answer, and hang-up.

In the U.S., the package is optimized for use with Yahoo Messenger with Voice and AOL’s instant messenger service. It will sell in the U.S. for $129.99 and will be available in stores in both the U.S. and Europe in mid-September. The companies did not reveal the suggested retail price for Europe.

Logitech also introduced a cordless handset for making and receiving Skype calls. The phone communicates wirelessly to a module that plugs into the USB (universal serial bus) port on a PC and can be used within 164 feet of the PC. It will start selling in October for $199.99 in the U.S. and Europe.

Logitech will also sell a speakerphone, designed for VOIP calling, separate from the EasyCall package. The speakerphone connects to a PC via the USB port and will cost $99.99 when it becomes available in the U.S. and Europe later this year.

nancy_gohring

Nancy Gohring is a freelance journalist who started writing about mobile phones just in time to cover the transition to digital. She's written about PCs from Hanover, cellular networks from Singapore, wireless standards from Cyprus, cloud computing from Seattle and just about any technology subject you can think of from Las Vegas. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Computerworld, Wired, the Seattle Times and other well-respected publications.

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