Skype for iPhone, iPod Touch coming

Skype for iPhone and iPod Touch is ready. Skype for iPhone and iPod Touch is expected to be ready for download this week. With this launch, Skype, the world’s most popular P2P VoIP (voice over internet protocol) program debuts in one of the largest-selling and most-popular smartphones. We’re excited.

However, we’d like to add that already, there are applications from Fring and Truphone, which offer Skype service support for the iPhone. Skype CEO Josh Silverman had recently hinted at the impending launch of the iPhone Skype. Making its entry into the iPhone portal is a major coup for Silverman, who has prised open several other cellphone markets so far, including Nokia, Samsung, BlackBerry and Sony Ericsson.

Skype has been downloaded by over 400 million users so far. Most Skype users use this instant messenger and internet telephony application on their desktop PCs, but recently, Skype has made a determined entry into the mobile phone and handheld devices market, persuading manufacturers to pre-load Skype on their cell phones before sale, and cajoling telecom carriers to allow Skype calls within their network.

Skype reasons that despite its cheaper rates, actual telephone usage in Skype-enabled networks is higher. For Skype, selling its service on mobile phones is critical, as more and more computer users take to mobile phones as mini-computers.

As yet, neither Apple nor Skype have made any official announcement about the iPhone Skype launch. Like all other versions of the Skype so far, Skype for iPhone and iPod Touch is also expected to be free software, though one cannot rule out the possibility — we consider it remote — of the Skype debuting on the iPhone App Store with a small price tag.

Apple is likely to announce the impending launch of the Skype service on its iPhones at this week’s CTIA Wireless conference. Recently, Apple started selling unlocked iPhones. This means you can walk into a shop and buy any iPhone of your choice, and use it with any operator. So far, iPhones in the US were available only from AT&T.

So, you couldn’t use it with any other operator. The availability of unlocked iPhones is expected to increase the market size for Apple iPhone. Now you can get iPhone 3Gs without a two-year contract for $599 and $699. The carrier-locked iPhones are cheaper, since the carrier subsidises the handset and makes good the loss through charges over the duration of the contract.