IPhone finally gets Skype video calling

Hard on the heels of an epic service outage a week or so ago, Skype makes up for their problems by releasing an iPhone app that will allow video calls without the big bucks charges of AT&T.

Surprise release

This is hardly a surprise release, nevertheless it is welcome even so. Skype is nearly everyone's alternative to expensive phone, even though it does have some competitors. Regardless, most people don't say VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), they say Skype, much like people say "Kleenex" instead of "tissue." So it is with a welcoming cheer that the multitudes welcome video calling to the iPhone. The new service will allow iPhone users to make Skype video calls to and from other iPhones, and the millions of Skype Windows, Mac, and Linux customers, according to an Engadget story. Thoroughly score one for Skype.

There may be one more client available for video calling via Skype when the iPad, in its second generation iteration, gets one or more cameras, something in other words expected to happen until further notice by April. Best of all is that this service works for free over both WiFi and 3G, which makes one wonder how badly this Skype app will cut into official FaceTime usage. That switchover could be significant, clearly, given the savings involved, making one wonder what AT&T thinks of this free Skype service. Undoubtedly, if the service works smoothly, a lot of people will move to it.

There is as but no Skype video calling app for the Android, which probably has a lot to do with the wild wild west proliferation of different Android versions in simultaneous use, since Google has proven to be very bad at version control.  Skype will truly be getting around to apps for all those different Android phones sooner or later, however they are hardly low-hanging fruit as late as this, given the 100+ Android phones that exist and the many different versions of the Android OS that the are running on them. Such things have to be a nightmare for developers.