iPhone version of Skype will be available on Tuesday

Skype is set to launch its iPhone application Tuesday, bringing its much-anticipated Net-based phone service to Apple’s mobile platform. With the Skype iPhone app, users will be able to make free calls using Wi-Fi to other Skype users as well as use their Skype accounts to make reduced price calls to traditional landline phones. Skype announced its iPhone application will be available on Tuesday for free, with a version for the BlackBerry available in May. Mobile versions of Skype are already available for Nokia, Windows Mobile, and Google Android phones.

From what we can tell, the Skype for iPhone looks great; but it has some drawbacks. One disappointment is that users won’t be able to place calls over cellular networks, but only via Wi-Fi. Still, for international callers especially, Skype’s iPhone app will save callers money by allowing them to avoid AT&T’s traditional wireless phone network and adds the convenience of allowing Skype users to use their iPhone handset for Skype calls.

Looking more like a traditional iPhone app rather than the desktop Windows counterpart most of its 400 million users are used to, Skype for iPhone features five tabs at the bottom of the screen, displaying contacts, chats, a calling panel, call history, and your profile (with Facebook-style status).

Skype for iPhone will use phone numbers directly from your phone’s address book, so no more nasty duplicated contact lists. It even displays your contacts’ photos (if they have one set up on Skype). Conference calling is available, but for the moment you can only take part in one if someone invites you.

You can also chat with your Skype friends, but unfortunately this is the only thing (besides seeing who’s online) you can do over a cellular network. Skype for iPhone places calls only via Wi-Fi, not differentiating itself much from the other voice apps in the App Store (Skype for T-Mobile G1 can place calls over 3G).

Skype for iPhone is still a young app and is short on some of the features its desktop counterpart has. SMS, video and proper conference calling, file transfer, and voicemail are missing from this first version, but let’s hope they will make their way in future versions.

iPod Touch users will also be able to enjoy Skype, but this would require them to purchase a microphone, or headphones with built-in microphones (like the iPhone’s).

Internet Tethering in iPhone

Months before the iPhone OS 3.0 is released to the masses, one entrepreneurial developer has managed to crack into the phone’s Internet tethering capabilities. Steve Troughton-Smith unearthed the iPhone’s tethering preferences pane, connected his iPhone to his Mac via USB, and was allowed to use the phone as a modem. Problem is, he has no idea how he did it. From Twitter, he says, “To all: I have no idea how I did it. Sorry! I was hacking around with APNs in the Carrier.bundle itcc file.”

Internet tethering was rumored to be a feature on OS 3.0, and during the iPhone OS 3.0 conference, Senior VP for iPhone Software Scott Forstall said the OS 3.0 supported Internet tethering. Despite the iPhone’s capability, tethering was never made into an option.

The question now is whether carriers want to shoulder the burden tethering would create on its networks — and the burden is huge. Earlier this week iPhones practically crippled AT&T’s 3G network at Austin’s SXSW festival, and that was just the phone. Imagine hundreds of thousands of computers connected to that same network and the damage it’d wreak.

If you have a jailbroken iPhone, Internet tethering is readily available. When OS 3.0 rolls around, Apple will kick all jailbreakers out of the party — temporarily. The Dev-Team announced that 3.0 is definitely “jailbreakable” but that those using Yellowsn0w — a software-based jailbreaking system — should exercise restraint and wait for the “official” set of keys.

iPhone OS 3.0 revealed

For nearly two years, the iPhone was a must-have device with one very conspicuous missing feature: copy and paste.

Not anymore.

Apple unveiled the next generation iPhone and iPod Touch software – version 3.0 – at its Cupertino, Calif., campus Tuesday – and, proving the rumor mill true, announced that the sought-after function will at last appear on the groundbreaking gadget, according to multiple online reports.

Copy and paste – long a baffling omission from the iPhone’s operating system – wasn’t the only highlight of Tuesday’s event, though. Here’s what iPhone owners also have to look forward to:

• MMS support: Now iPhone users can send and receive multimedia messages to other phones instead of just standard text messages. Up until now, users were limited to emailing photos or uploading them via the Web.
• Push notification: In previous versions of the iPhone software, if users closed an application – other than built-in apps like Mail or iPod – the apps would stop running. Now, through push notification, apps can alert users to updates, new messages, etc., even when the app isn’t open.
• Turn-by-turn apps: Another long-awaited feature, Apple will now allow developers to create map features that provide turn-by-turn directions.
• “In-App” purchases: Users can now download features from inside of applications – like additional game levels or eBooks.
• Peer-to-peer connectivity: Using Bluetooth, iPhone users can link up to play games – or pass along their business cards.

Unfortunately, iPhone 3.0 software won’t be available until the summer – but you’ve waited this long, what’s another few months

Steve Jobs takes leave from Apple

We officially heard about the hormone imbalance earlier this month, but it seems the health issues concerning Steve Jobs are more serious than first thought, with the Apple boss now starting a leave of absence. The intention is to return in June. The full letter reads:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

Skype comes to Android. iPhone?

Skype has announced a new Android version of its mobile VoIP service, porting Skype Lite which is currently available on a range of Java handsets. Skype Lite, currently in Beta, will let Android users utilize a standard voice channel to make a local call, which is then converted to VoIP. There will be charges for the local calls, but users could stand to make gains on long-distance calls if those called are logged on to Skype.

“Call on Skype wherever you are – no WiFi or 3G required”, reads promotional material for Skype Lite. A version for the iPhone may show up, but will be technically challenging. Getting the application to the Apple Application Store would not be a walk in the park either.

Apple's partner operators will likely frown on users being able to convert international calls into local call charges. The store already includes a VoIP application from Truphone, which was added when the developer agreed to remove 3G network support. Skype Lite's Java client uses GPRS (or alternative) to keep an updated list of Skype contacts, and provide IM features.

Skype doesn't stand to gain much financially from this development, but instead hopes to entice more users to adopt Skype use on a regular basis.