Nokia Smartphone to Bundle eBay's Skype Service

eBay's(EBAY Quote - Cramer on EBAY - Stock Picks) popular Skype Internet telephony service will be included on a new smartphone made by Nokia(NOK Quote - Cramer on NOK - Stock Picks).

Skype will be included on Nokia's N800 Internet Tablet smartphone, allowing users to make phone calls more cheaply using wireless Internet connections, rather than standard mobile phone networks.

The move comes in the wake of Apple's(AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks) launch of the iPhone, which many observers expect will give eBay rival Google(GOOG Quote - Cramer on GOOG - Stock Picks) a boost by further enabling mobile Web browsing.

eBay's partnership with Nokia also follows a spate of moves by the auction giant as it jostles to reposition against other companies. On Tuesday, eBay's PayPal payment service announced a new partnership with Southwest Airlines(LUV Quote - Cramer on LUV - Stock Picks) that would make it easier for users to purchase tickets.

eBay also recently introduced Kijiji , a local auction service, in the U.S., where it will compete with Craigslist -- a privately held company that's 25%-owned by eBay. The auction giant also greatly reduced its purchase of Google's Ad Words after abruptly cutting off the service in what it described as a routine test.

Shares of eBay were recently up 33 cents to $33.24.