New York — Skype, the VoIP service provider, over the weekend announced that it has released a new update for multitasking and improved call quality on its iPhone application that enables users to receive calls while they are using other applications or when the phone is locked. Furthermore, the update (now version 2.0.1) reverses Skype’s decision to charge for calls over 3G, Skype wrote in a blog post.
Skype has updated its application for taking advantage of iOS4’s ability to selectively multitask, users can now leave Skype running in the background while receiving calls when doing other tasks or while on the home screen. Users potentially can also switch from Skype to another app while on a phone call.
Skype for iPhone accepts incoming calls and chats even when you are not in Skype. (Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Late last May, after upgrading their iPhone application to Skype 2.0 for iPhone ultimately introduced the oft-requested feature of allowing users to make calls over 3G data connections, in addition to over Wi-Fi, a capability that Apple had unlocked months before.
Skype enhances its services by adding the multitasking feature for iPhone users. Prior to this enhancement, multitasking support for Skype could only run in the foreground. If you wanted to make Skype calls or chat via Skype IM, you had to have the app open and running. If you close the app, it signed you out of Skype and you were no longer able to take calls or IMs. That seriously crippled the usefulness of the app, especially for Skype addicts.
Primarily, you can view a movie listing, read an email or write an SMS, while talking on the phone. The new Skype update has also improved the application’s graphics to support iPhone 4’s Retina Display.
In May, when Skype unveiled plans to support iOS4, it also announced that it would begin charging iPhone users to make VoIP calls over 3G. This decision made Skype users pretty unhappy.
So, for those apprehensive that the company will introduce some sort of fee like a premium service, Skype also stated clearly that they no longer have plans to charge a supplement to make calls over 3G. It has now dropped that idea.
Skype said, “We no longer have plans to charge a supplement to make calls over 3G. We are delighted to make it easier for you to talk for even longer and spend even more time together using Skype.”
It seems that more people using the application for free is more important for Skype, then less people using it for a small fee.
In a post on Skype’s official blog, where it announces the new update, Peter Parks, Skype’s blogger-in-chief, says: “At Skype, we think that better call quality and better availability (which is achieved with an app capable of multitasking and/or making calls over 3G) lead to increased call frequency and longer calls. We also consider that the mobile world is in a period of significant change, for example, with some operators starting to move to tiered pricing models.”
Skype, however, unleashed the 3G calling feature as a double-edged sword, offering it as a free trial of what would by August 2010 become a paid subscription. Skype users criticized against the proposed subscription model, and we suspect the present user backlash and fear of future outrage to be the cause.
Also note that multitasking feature requires iOS 4 and an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, or a third-generation iPod touch (32GB and 64GB models from late 2009) to reap the benefit of multitasking. Check out the new features of the application here.