Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Skype has been quite busy in the past few months.  The company released a new Windows version of the software in February with a lot of improvements.  It partnered with to bring the service to Android, Nokia, and Windows Mobile platforms.  There was even the announcement that the company would release its audio codec for free to anyone who wants to use it.

Now Skype brings forth two big announcements.  Skype will be coming to iPhones and iPod touches tomorrow and to RIM BlackBerries in May.  So, no matter what major smartphone you have, or plan on buying, you’ll be able to access Skype with it.  However, you might not be able to access it everywhere.  At least on the iPhone, Skype calls will be limited to over Wi-Fi.  The limitation is actually what allows the iPod touch to use the application, assuming you have a microphone and a second-generation touch.  The limitation actually extends to every voice app on the iPhone, so it’s not just AT&T and Apple keeping Skype down, they keep everyone else down as well.

There have been third party Skype apps for mobile devices before any of these announcements from Skype, though none of them actually had the full Skype feature set.  Having all the aspects of Skype on a smartphone is quite nice for heavy Skype users.  It could theoretically allow for free calling to anyone else as long as they are on Skype and near a Skype device.  Just the thought of it makes it obvious why some mobile carriers might be scared off by the prospect of Skype being available on their phones.  However, VoIP services still need to use data, which cell providers are notorious for gouging the price on anyway, so it doesn’t make sense that they would fear this.  If anything, it just means that people could be using the data networks more often, since open access points can sometimes be hard to come by, if the networks would allow for such a thing.

Read [NY Times]