A day after announcing the availability of its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoiP) service on the Apple iPhone and iPod touch, Skype officially confirmed the in-demand application, which allows users to dial other Skype accounts for free, would be coming in a BlackBerry-compatible version in May.

The announcement was made at the CTIA Wireless convention in Las Vegas, where Skype, owned by parent company eBay, hosted a half hour-long press conference on Tuesday. Skype said a beta version would be available in May for the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve smartphones, which are manufactured by Research in Motion (RIM). Support for other BlackBerry smartphones would follow, the company assured.

"With Skype on BlackBerry smartphones, we are making Skype available in the briefcases and purses of BlackBerry users around the world," said Skype COO Scott Durchslag. "We have heard loud and clear that our users want Skype on whichever smartphone they choose to use.” Durchslag said this fulfills their promise of making Skype available on the major smartphones so consumers and mobile professionals can connect to Skype “whenever, wherever and however they choose."

Skype’s technology allows users to connect to other Skype users or traditional landlines and mobile phones, as well as send and receive text messages. Video messaging capability, while not yet available on the mobile Skype application, is expected to roll out later on. "If we do it we will have to do it incredibly well," Durchslag told Reuters last week. "I'm firmly convinced that if Skype could find a way to bridge all those cellphone cameras and laptop cameras it might kick start a video telephony opportunity."

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