An official application from Skype for the iPhone has been released today. In the past you had to use a 3rd party application like Nimbuzz in order to use Skype. I am a big fan of Numbizz as a multi IM application. It is free and has a clean interface so check that out in the iTunes store.

The best thing about the new Skype release is that is contains all of the standard features of the desktop application. Unlike Windows Mobile phones the calls work just like a regular call. In WM everything is routed to the external speaker. So far call quality has been good. Download the application, start it, and enter in your Skype account information. If you don’t have an account you can create one via the phone. However, I really recommend doing this from a PC. If you are going to want to make Skype to traditional phone calls there is a small fee. Skype to Skype is always free. Skype offers many options and I will let them explain all of these to you. I have many family members who use Skype as there sole phone connection other than a mobile phone.

Like all iPhone applications Skype cannot run in the background. This means that in order to receive calls you will have to continue to run the Skype application and can’t do anything else on the phone. Hopefully the 3.0 software release in June by Apple will address these issues.

More and more places around the globe offer free wifi. In the past I have taken my laptop with me and used Skype to make calls. While this is nice I don’t always want to carry my laptop with me while seeing the sites in the hopes I come across an access point. Now I can just carry my iPhone and when convenient make calls back to the states or anywhere else for pennies per minute. Sure beats what the traditional carries charge.

Check out Engadget.com or Gizmodo.com/iphone for further details.