Ipevo, a hardware subsidiary of Taiwan-based PChome Online, on May 28 unveiled the Solo, a Skype phone which allows connection without a PC, for worldwide sale with the phone to be available in Taiwan on June 11 and in the US in July, according to company sources.

The Solo is powered by an Intel PXA 270 CPU and chipsets from Broadcom and is manufactured by Taiwan-based Universal Scientific Industrial (USI), said the sources, noting that the company expects shipments of Skype-enabled Solo phones to top 50,000 units in 2007.

The Solo does not require any connection to a computer via USB as do other Skype phones but instead can connect directly to a broadband network, the sources noted.

Monica Chen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 29 May 2007]