Fresh on the heels of AT&T officially releasing the Slingbox for iPhone App, Verizon Wireless, not to be outdone by their competition has announced a partnership with Skype. Engadget is reporting that starting next month, all Verizon Wireless customers with smartphones (and an accompanying data plan) will be able to make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any user in the world over its 3G network. Verizon Wireless, which has always been known (somewhat like Rogers in Canada) to be an extremely controlling company is now opening its 3G Network for unlimited Skype calling. The best part of this being that the app will not use any of your plans airtime. Though the Skype client will not use your data plan once the call is in progress, a data plan is still required to tunnel the initial call from the data network to the voice network.

The Skype Mobile application will also support Skype Out calling, instant messaging between Skype users and an ability to “remain always connected… to see friends’ online presence.”

Skype mobile will be available on millions of best-selling Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones with data plans, including:

• Blackberry Storm 9530
• Blackberry Storm2 9550
• Blackberry 8530
• Blackberry 8330
• Blackberry 8830 World Edition
• Blackberry 9630
• Motorola DROID
• Motorola DROID Eris
• Motorola Devour

Are you a Verizon customer who makes a considerable amount of long distance calls? Let us know what you think!