Skype for iPhone (iOS 4) Now Available In The App Store

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We knew this update was coming, in fact the Skype team offered up a nice post with some of their plans for the iOS 4 version of Skype on the iPhone. Well, in a little bit of good news — the updated app is now available in the App Store.

First and foremost, the app was and remains available as a free download. But in addition part of the good news with this update is the fact that calling over 3G is going to remain free.

“we no longer have plans to charge a supplement to make calls over 3G.”

No real reason was given as to why the 3G calling will remain free, though the post on the Skype blog did make mention of how “the mobile world is in a period of significant change” and something about how “some operators starting to move to tiered pricing models.” Either way, Skype users seem to have dodged a bullet on that one. And given its going to be free, I guess its safe to say that the reason behind the decision really is not all that important.

Otherwise, moving on to perhaps the biggest part of the update — those running iOS 4 and using an iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS will also get the one piece that makes a VoIP app seem worthwhile on the iPhone — multitasking. Bottom line here, you can close the app and still get notifications of new calls and/or messages. And those notifications will arrive even when your display is dark and your phone locked.

Finally those on an iPhone 4 should also notice an improvement in terms of overall look as the graphics have been updated for the retina display.

In the end, this sounds like the version of Skype that many wanted a long time ago and given that I would imagine there are plenty of people re-installing the Skype app.