Analysts are taking note that Microsoft, the classic Apple competitor, is indirectly ingratiating itself with Apple's industry-leading tablet computer. It's been widely reported that the Skype app will be available in iTunes starting Tuesday.

"It's interesting that this app puts Microsoft on the iPad --- potentially," noted Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. "MicroSkype takes a bite of the Apple."

The Skype video chat app for iPad alone might not be a big concern for Apple, though it does give Microsoft a foot into the Apple door, he said.

In fact, the app could mean that Apple, in effect, will become a component of the Microsoft Windows Live suite that includes everything from IM to email, Gold said. "Live is directly competitive to what Apple is doing," Gold noted.

In the computing industry, stranger things have happened as large companies invariably compete and cooperate with rivals. In fact, years ago industry insiders coined the term "co-opetition" as the trend took hold.