It’s always puzzled my why Skype, which is popular and works well on the iPhone, wasn’t ported to the iPad very early on. Judging by a new (seemingly authentic) promotional video, that may be about to change.
According to RazorianFly, this video appeared early today on Skype’s official YouTube channel, only to later be pulled. RazorianFly harvested the video, putting it out on their own YouTube channel.
If this video is legit, Skype for iPad will support both WiFi and 3G, will have video calling, will support simultaneous text-based chat and video calling, and will feature a really nice new interface that’s both professional-looking and easy to navigate.
The below screenshot was provided by RazorianFly as evidence that this video was, indeed, originally on Skype’s official YouTube channel:
While I’m not quite sure what’s going on here, I am excited by the possibility of Skype coming to the iPad, and impressed that Microsoft (who now own Skype) have seemingly managed to put together a user interface that doesn’t suck.
What’s the truth of the matter? I’m not sure – but the video does appear to be legit. The fact that it was pulled from YouTube so quickly is certainly suspicious, however, so I’m suspending judgement on the actual status of this. Check out the video for yourself by viewing below.
Your thoughts? Sound off in the comments!
***Update: June 24: Rick Osterloh, VP of Consumer and Product Design for Skype, has confirmed that Skype for iPad is real, and is pending Apple’s approval for release to the App Store. Osterloh also mentioned that some of Skype’s desktop features, such as file sharing, will be absent, but called Skype for iPad a solid release, and says that Apple has been very supportive.
Osterloh continues on to say that the iPad version of Skype, which has been in testing for a few months, should have great success at launch.
