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Free Skype Client Lands On the iPhone

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the not-just-build-it-and-they-will-come dept.

CNet is reporting that a free Skype client will finally be landing on the iPhone this week. Unfortunately some are saying that it seems many of the "critical" pieces of functionality are still missing. While the Skype engineers claim their native client will offer better audio quality (because there is no need to route through another server and transcode audio) they are still missing text messaging, file transfers, and integrated voice mail. Since the iPhone does not allow for multiple programs running concurrently, many are expecting existing multi-function apps like Fring and NimBuzz to continue their reign at the top.

5 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Iphones can only run one app? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's an arbitrary restriction and only applies to third-party apps. The aim is to avoid third-party apps draining the battery by doing a lot of things in the background, or preventing other things from working by using all of the RAM (the iPhone doesn't enable swapping, I believe).

    In theory, this is a good idea. Unfortunately, the whole philosophy of the iPhone is that Apple knows better than the owner of the device (which is probably true in the case of a lot of the users...) so there is no way of overriding this.

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  2. Re:My Question is This by mspohr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Skype will only use the WiFi network, not the 'unlimited' ATT data plan so you will only be able to use it while tethered to a local hotspot, not out roaming in the wild. ATT and Apple protect their revenue and force you to use your paid minutes instead of the 'unlimited' data plan that you are paying big bucks for...

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  3. Re:Iphones can only run one app? by omeomi · · Score: 4, Informative

    iPhones can run multiple apps, but the public SDK does not allow developers to write apps that run in the background. Apple can certainly write apps that run in the background, though. The music service, for one. The phone service, etc. Additionally, developers for jailbroken phones can run applications in the background because they're not constrained by the official SDK.

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  4. Re:Iphones can only run one app? by omeomi · · Score: 4, Informative

    (the iPhone doesn't enable swapping, I believe).

    That is correct. The iPhone's virtual memory model does not include swapping.

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  5. Re:Iphones can only run one app? by WillyDavidK · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'll post a link, there's nothing illegal about it:

    http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

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