Update: Skype for iPad Back on iTunes Store

UPDATE: The official app for Skype is back online in the iTunes Store. It was taken down for a brief amount of time to allow users to have the ‘best experience’ from it, yesterday. The Skype for iPad app is online again for longer than it was before, so we hope that it is here to stay. Visit the App Store on your iPad to download it or if you are on a desktop, click here.

UPDATE: Almost as soon as the official iPad app for Skype went live, and was made available for download on the iTunes Store Skype brought it down. Till then, several users around the world had not even downloaded the app. Skype, on their Twitter feed stated that they wanted to ensure that their users receive the best Skype experience, and were hence, pulling it down. As of now there is no word on when the ‘Skype for iPad’ app will go live again.

Skype takes down official iPad app

A video of Skype running on an iPad released in late June, but was promptly taken offline. The app was supposed to be launched in early July, but for some reason it had not gone live. Come the second day of August, and the official 'Skype app for iPad' has been now been made available, worldwide. According to a report, the app has all the features available on the iPhone such as video conferencing, instant messaging, as well as audio chatting. An advantage Skype has over Apple’s FaceTime is that one does not need to be connected to Wi-Fi in order to avail these features. The app like on the iPhone is available by using a 3G network, as well.

Official Skype app finally available for the iPad

Some of the other features of this app include full-screen video calling and you don't need to create a separate Skype account to use it. By tapping a contact’s name in the contact list, you can either make a voice or video call to the person. This feature can also be used to instant message the contact. Like the iPhone app, you can view recent history of calls made making it faster to contact the person without having to actually scroll down to their name. Like FaceTime, you also can switch between the front or rear cameras.

The ‘Skype for iPad’ app is available for free through the iTunes Store and will work on devices running iOS 4.0 and above. Video calling on the 'Skype for iPad' app can be used on the iPad 2. Those owning the first generation of iPads can only receive videos. Let us know what you think of Skype being officially available for the iPad in the comments below.