The upgraded 2.0 version of Skype’s App Store app for the iPhone and the iPod Touch was released on Saturday. The app, which will initially be free, will allow iPhone users to make and receive calls under AT&T’s 3G cellular data network; thereby doing away with the need to be within range of a wireless network.

However, the release of the upgraded Skype 2.0 version for the App Store is not all good news – the initially free app will soon be made a subscription feature, even for Skype-to-Skype calls and for users already subscribing to calling plans with the Internet telephony company.

Though Skype has currently not mentioned either the timeline or the specific pricing of the subscription model of the app’s upgraded version, the release notes of the new version reveal that the feature will be free only “until at least the end of August 2010, after which there will be a small monthly fee.”
Though Skype had mentioned in a February 3 announcement that it will introduce 3G calling “soon,” the company did not reveal its plans of the additional cost to be associated with the move.

Hence, Skype’s plans to charge monthly fee come as a surprise – more so because, generally, Skype’s calls are either free or fairly less expensive than calls made on minute-counting calling plans.