For comparison, a brief test of FaceTime's 3G data usage on a jailbroken iPhone 4 in August showed it using around 3MB of data in a minute – equating to around three hours of calling time a month on the average 500MB tariff.
The average minute-long Skype mobile video call uses approximately 600kbps of data, which will count against each callers' monthly tariff, the company said today. And this has nothing to do with the need to manage traffic for technical reasons in times of congestion to improve consumer experience," Jean-Jacques Sahel, Skype's lead government relations head, told the Guardian this month. "UK citizens face restrictions for over-charging - depending on operators - on uses of the internet such as voice over IP, audio, video, streaming, peer-to-peer.
The demands, which would breach the broad principle of net neutrality, would likely be sternly resisted by Skype, which earlier this month called the UK " one of the most restrictive countries in the world" when it came to accessing the mobile internet. Steve Jobs admitted at the time that Apple would "need to work a little bit with carriers" before callers could use FaceTime on mobile data connections increasingly under strain from smartphone uptake.īut for its latest release, Skype appears to have placated mobile operators, many of which – including Vodafone and Orange – are calling for data-intensive sites to help pay for network upgrades as demand for mobile connectivity increases. However, its use is restricted to iPhone 4 owners who are both on Wi-Fi connections at the time of the call. Apple devoted its customary "One more thing…" announcement to FaceTime and has since spent a pretty penny marketing it as the iPhone 4's unique selling point. Skype's new app will dampen the appeal of Apple's own FaceTime video calling function, which was launched alongside the iPhone 4 in June. "With video calling representing approximately 40% of all Skype-to-Skype minutes for the first six months of 2010, our users have been eager to get Skype video calling on their mobile phones," Neil Stevens, general manager of Skype's consumer business, said today.
But Skype has long made clear its intention to bring mobile video calling to the masses – and the smartphone boom of recent years has made that prospect look increasingly likely. Skype video calling app for the iPhone becomes a reality – but what do the operators make of it?Īlthough mobile video calling has been around since about 2003, its uptake has remained relatively niche and limited tech-savvy families rather than teenagers (texting) or video conferences.
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