It's been a big year for one of the most popular applications on the planet. It continues to arrive on a range of connected TVs and kick-started 2011 by rolling-out a huge update to its iPhone app to offer video calling for the first time.

The app now offers free Skype-to-Skype video calls over 3G and Wi-Fi - slashing phone bills, negating the need for Apple’s restrictive Apple-to-Apple, Wi-Fi-only FaceTime service and generally bringing parted people closer together.

With Android video calling to come this year, more and more people will be making Skype calls. No wonder Microsoft just shelled out $8.5 billion for the company…