Apple's motivation to allow a Skype video app for iPad to be available in iTunes isn't hard to figure out, some analysts noted.

Skype is enormously popular worldwide, with some 30 million simultaneous users of its voice and video tools at peak times, and an average of 145 million connected users per month in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to .

A popular app on a popular tablet can only help the tablet, the reasoning goes, while reviewers note that video chat on a tablet is arguably more compelling than on a smaller smartphone.

A further irony is that the Skype for iPad app would compete with Apple's own FaceTime video chat product, which works in Wi-Fi only.

Skype for iPad will be workable in both Wi-Fi and 3G, although an early said the Skype video chat is clear in Wi-Fi and "often less crisp chat over 3G." The reviewer also noted that calling via Skype video from an iPad to an iPhone resulted in frequent freezes.