Apple’s FaceTime, the program that lets users make video calls from their iPhone and other products, had made video-calling easy and portable for people with the right equipment.
Now Skype, the popular online video communication service, plans to get into the mobile video calling business.
Skype announced recently it will expand to include service to the iPhone 4and 3GS, the third generation system for the iPod Touch and iPad machines.
The service will be similar to FaceTime in the way it will allow two iPhone users to connect through video, but Skye’s service will have one major advantage. Instead of requiring a WiFi signal, like with FaceTime, anyone using the Skype service will be able to use their regular data plan and 3G wireless service.
PC’s with Skype, which cannot take advantage of Apple’s FaceTime, can connect using Skype’s new iPhone app.
The June release of the iPhone 4 brought the first iPhone with a camera facing the user to allow for video chatting. The phone included FaceTime, which allowed users to make video calls to other iPhone 4 users, or anyone with the most recent edition of the iPod Touch or an Apple computer.
There are already other apps for the iPhone that allow for video calls over a wireless network. Fring and Tango are two such services, but Skype already has a large number of users who are likely to take advantage of the expanded mobile capabilities.
Skype said that in first half of 2010, video calling accounted for 40 percent of all the time spent using the company’s free Internet call service.