Skype loads up Apple, encore at CES?

As Skype rolled out its latest beta version for the Apple Macintosh family this week, Truphone was trumpeting its support for making Skype sessions through its service. Now, if Skype could only fix Mr. Jobs's hormonal problem. We don't think that will be the topic of Skype's press conference on Thursday at CES 2009, but we wouldn't bet against it, either.

The Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac has a number of new Skype features that currently aren't available on other operating systems yet, but will be later in the year. Skype Access provides a pay-per-minute Wi-Fi hotspot access service through Bongo Wireless and leverages billing using Skype credits. Current charges for Bongo WiFi access through SkypeAccess are at $0.19 per minute.

Screen sharing is another new feature; Skype Mac users can "share" the screen view with Skype for Windows and Skype for Linux users; reciprocity with the other operating systems is expected later in the year.

Other new bells and whistles include improved chat management, a quick add feature, a mood message chat (Hmm, to be followed by the USB mood ring enhancement?), larger profile pictures, and the ability to add notes to contacts.

Also grabbing headlines at the San Francisco MacWorld show, Truphone showed it can support Skype calling and IM on the iPhone and iPod touch from its apps. The service is scheduled to be available to all Truphone customers next week and enables Truphone customers using iApple devices to reach Skype users via Skype IDs; in a separate announcement, Truphone also announced it would support other IM services on the iApple devices.

For more:
- Skype's release [1] on version 2.8 for the Mac
- Truphone blogs [2] on its Skype support for the iPhone and iPod touch