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Skype Finally Breaks Free on the iPhone

If any doubt lingered that voice is now just another feature on cellphones, the latest version of Skype for the iPhone should dispel it. Skype can now receive calls when the app is running invisibly in the background, which was a major omission in previous versions released before Apple added multitasking to its OS. Combined […]
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If any doubt lingered that voice is now just another feature on cellphones, the latest version of Skype for the iPhone should dispel it.

Skype can now receive calls when the app is running invisibly in the background, which was a major omission in previous versions released before Apple added multitasking to its OS.

Combined with the May addition of support for Skype calls over AT&T's 3G data network -- and Skype's simultaneous decision to keep 3G calls free indefinitely -- the app is now a workable replacement for the iPhone's normal calling feature, especially for those people who have Skype accounts which provide real telephone numbers.

Video calling is not included -- "yet," we hope, since the iPhone 4 is the first model to have a front-facing camera. But that feature may have a hard time passing Apple muster since it duplicates a new core functionality, FaceTime.

Still, this is what we've been talking about when we spoke of mobile VoIP nirvana, and it puts the iPhone in the forefront of Skype handsets (in the United States, anyway). Skype mobile is available on a handful of Android and Blackberry phones with Verizon, but only for Skype-to-Skype and international calls -- not to "online" numbers or regular phones.

Credit for freeing Skype on the iPhone should not go to Apple or Skype, but, ironically, AT&T. When the exclusive carrier of the iPhone started limiting the amount of data users can upload and download over their phones' wireless data connections to either 200 MB or 2 GB per month, it paved the way for "unlimited" Skype months before the multitasking iPhone that could truly support it was released.

You may not run out of minutes while Skype chatting on your iPhone 4, but you could run out of kilobtytes -- especially with video chat, should that be enabled under 3G. Due to these recently imposed data limits, AT&T's networks will presumably be capable of supporting as much Skype calling as people want to do, using their limited data plans. The carrier won't have to worry about the effect of daily, hours-long audio and video chats on its network with those limits in place.

Still, the approval of this latest Skype app marks another victory for app-based calling on the iPhone, especially following the nasty breakup between Skype and Fring. Apple and AT&T initially refused to approve any app that could replace core phone functionality such as voice calls, only allowing voice apps to make calls over the iPhone's 3G data connection after the FCC started rattling its saber in their direction.

The multitasking feature that Skype requires in order to make sense on the iPhone is a part of Apple iOS 4, and that only runs on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod Touch, and soon, on the iPad too.

"You can receive Skype calls while other apps are running, even when your iPhone is locked," wrote Skype blogger-in-chief Peter Parkes. "And during a call, you can keep the conversation going while you switch to another task, such as checking a movie listing or reading an e-mail. We've also updated the app's graphics to support iPhone 4's Retina Display."

At the end of the post, he acknowledges that AT&T's limited data plans have everything to do with Skype's newfound iPhone freedom.

"The mobile world is in a period of significant change, for example, with some operators starting to move to tiered pricing models," wrote Parkes. "In light of that, we no longer have plans to charge a supplement to make calls over 3G."

The latest version of Skype is available as of Thursday (iTunes link).

Follow us for disruptive tech news: Eliot Van Buskirk and Epicenter on Twitter.

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