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Motorola "teams with Skype" - but it's just another dongle and Bluetooth

What you want, if you are a Skype user, is not just the ability to break the cable between your headset and the PC. You want the ability to place calls, dial numbers, and even send DTMF. Since such devices exist, it's a little puzzling how much fuss Motorola is making of a bundle of one of its standard Bluetooth headsets with a standard Bluetooth Dongle.

Currently, the kit won't even allow you to accept an incoming call unless you can get to the PC keyboard, and it certainly won't allow you to place one.

According to the official announcement, this is "the first Skype-certified Bluetooth headset solution in America, the Motorola Wireless Internet Calling Kit... available at 3,500 Radio Shack stores nationwide."

But what it really is, is no more than the "Motorola H500 Bluetooth Headset and PC850 PC Adapter, plus 30 minutes of SkypeOut." And at normal rates, SkypeOut for half an hour isn't a king's ransom; it could be worth a dollar.

The real deal is probably the bit we won't see until February, when Skype and Motorola start joint marketing efforts. Hopefully, by then we'll see a real cordless phone solution with a headset option, not something that makes you have to make a choice between being mobile or having control of the phone.