Skype users who’ve long waited for an iPad app got their wishes granted Tuesday. The video-chat giant announced on its blog that a version of the popular service is now optimized for the iPad.
Skype’s debut on the iPhone came in April 2009 – with the video calling feature first becoming available last winter – but fans of the service have had to wait several months since the debut of the iPad 2 to chat with friends, family and co-workers on Apple’s tablet. (The original iPad, which launched more than a year ago, doesn’t have rear- or front-facing cameras.) The new app lets you chat in either landscape or portrait view.
Skype says all of the options users rely on have been optimized for the iPad, including two-way video calling, instant messaging, simple-to-view contacts, site navigation and SMS texting. Skype video calling is already available on many Android phones, Mac computers, PCs with Windows and more. There are 170 million users of the service worldwide.
Another cool feature lets users switch between the iPad 2’s two cameras, meaning one minute you can be chatting face to face, then, in the next minute, showing the other user what you’re seeing. If you’re just out of the shower and don’t want someone to see you, you can use Skype for iPad to call landlines and cell phones as well. It works on both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.
