Skype for iPhone: An official App

Posted on 30. Mar, 2009 by Bradley Hebdon in News

Months after teasing the community at CES with an announcement of Skype’s native VoIP client for the iPhone, the free Skype for iPhone will finally be available to download from the iTunes App Store sometime on Tuesday

Skype’s screens are well organized and use the iPhone’s ability to add filters, for instance, to sort your contacts alphabetically, or by who’s online. There’s chatting as well, though Skype’s flagship feature is its VoIP calling that’s free to other Skype users and an inexpensive per-minute fee to landlines. Calls on Skype for iPhone work only if you’re in range of a Wi-Fi network, so your call quality will in part be at the mercy and strength of wireless networks nearby–calls will not work over the cell phone network on the iPhone (but chatting will.) Assuming your connection is solid, you can dial a number or quickly call a contacts stored in your address book. During a call, you can mute the line, go on hold, or put the call on speakerphone.

This represents yet another step away from cell phone networks, and embracing traditional web connectivity as the be-all and end-all.

Tags: CES, iPhone, iTunes, iTunes App Store, Mobile Application, Mobile Experience, Skype, UX, VoIP, Wi-Fi