Skype launches video chat for iOS, outdoes FaceTime

Popular instant messaging, voice and video chat client Skype today released a version for iOS that supports video calling on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

With the updated iOS application, users can make video calls to desktop versions of Skype as well as to other iOS devices over Wi-Fi or 3G mobile data connections.

In Skype's official blog today, Peter Parkes said the app is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod Touch 4th Generation with iOS 4.0 and up. The iPhone 4 is the only device among them that has a forward-facing camera, the essential element in video chatting.

But this does not hamstring Skype on the platform.

Since the iPhone 4's launch in June, Apple has been pushing the intimacy that FaceTime can provide its users. Unfortunately, the FaceTime software has some big limitations in that it only allows calls between iPhones or between iPhones and Macs running the FaceTime for Mac beta client. There is no FaceTime for Windows client.

So for now, Skype for iPhone 4 can serve a broader base of users than FaceTime.

Skype for iOS with video calling is now available in the iTunes app store.