MWC 2012: Skype for Windows Phone Arrives (Kind of) – Beta Goes Live Today

Announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the long-awaited Skype for Window Phone 7 & 7.5 devices has gone live – in the form of a Beta app. Originally expected to become part of full social assault in the last upgrade “Mango” the video and voice chat service will be available to download onto devices such as the Nokia Lumia range from today.

Skype says “Many of you have been waiting for this. And today we are excited to announce our new Skype for Windows Phone Beta app. This now makes Skype available on almost all of the leading mobile smartphone operating systems. The gold version of the app will be available in April, but starting today, you will be able to download the beta version to test drive Skype for Windows Phone.”

After a big buy out by Microsoft last year, it seemed inevitable that Skype would be buddying up next to Facebook and Twitter for the Windows Phone platforms big refresh in September and the Redmond, Washington based tech giant co. reassured that it definitely was coming back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Today fans of face-to-face internet phoning do indeed get some of what they’ve been waiting for, if only in a trial version app and not the expected integrated feature they had hoped.

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