Apparently the phone that is reportedly being developed jointly by Skype and mobile operator Three is a go-er, although neither company is still officially confirming this. It’s code named the “white phone,” it will launch by the end of this month in the UK, Italy, Hong Kong, and Australia (going to Three’s other five operations later), and the two companies may try to license it to operators in other markets, too, writes BusinessWeek.

The phone’s software is being developed by iSkoot and it will have various multimedia capabilities to, for example, browse the internet (and presumably a hotlink to eBay?). And it will include a big fat button to access a users’ Skype contact list to get in touch via the service. What’s not mentioned is if users will still be able to make old-fashioned mobile voice calls. Skype is also forging ties with other social networking players—most recently the deal announced with MySpace this week to embed a Skype service within the MySpace IM client—in its attempt to generate more revenues. Given MySpace’s moves into mobile it will be interesting to see how and if these other tie-ups come into the picture as well.

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