Skype for iPhone (iOS 4) in Development

Tweet

Prior to iOS 4 becoming available we mentioned that iOS 4’s multitasking would very much come into its own with regard to Apps such as Pandora and Skype and, whilst an iOS 4 multitasking friendly Pandora has already hit the App Store there’s still no iOS 4 Skype App in evidence. But we can confirm that at least an iOS 4 multitasking friendly Skype App is confirmed as in development so, at last, Skype for iPhone may actually start to make some kind of sense.

Don’t get me wrong, Skype for iPhone isn’t wholly redundant in its present multitasking-unfriendly format but, as users will know, the fact that you have to sit running it in the foreground in order to avail yourself of its features does render the App pretty mute in the scheme of things. And, personally, for this reason, though I have the Skype App on my 3GS its gone unused.

An iOS 4 multitasking friendly Skype for iPhone App, in using iOS 4’s multitasking capabilities to allow the App to run in the background, will change all that. No longer will you have to sit with the App open in order to use it and, personally, I suspect that I may actually start using Skype for iPhone as much as I want to once the update makes it into the App Store. Of course, if you’re making calls using Skype and you’re running the App in the foreground throughout then you’ll be using it in its present iteration without issues – but its hardly as usable as its desktop equivalent is it (after all one can only see who’s on, who’s left, who’s dropped you a message etc if its currently taking over your device).

As mentioned above, however, Skype have confirmed that they are working on an iOS 4 multitasking friendly Skype for iPhone update that will leverage iOS 4’s multitasking capabilities in order to at last make some sense in terms of using Skype on the iPhone though they have not offered any idea concerning when the updated iOS 4 friendly Skype App update will actually become available. And, in truth, it’s pretty surprising that, unlike with Pandora, Skype are not already in a position to make it available but, that’s by the by.

Skype’s official statement reads:

There’s a lot of excitement among the mobile team here at Skype, as both iOS 4 and the iPhone 4 will arrive on our desks this week. And we’ve been hard at work building an update to our iPhone app which will support multitasking in iOS 4.

With every update to the iPhone OS (now called iOS), Apple introduces a number of changes to the software. In order to make sure we give you the best experience possible, we need to carry out some additional tests with the final version of iOS 4.

When we’re confident that the app will live up to your high expectations, we’ll make it available for download. Stay tuned!

So, in short, it’ll be ready when it’s ready – but at least we know its in development and that soon we’ll all be able to use Skype as its meant to be used on our iPhones (or iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4’s at least).