I don't get it. The entire premise of VOIP, which is what Skype was supposed to be, was that you don't pay for individual calls.

So what's the advantage here?

The lack of free calls with Skype Mobile was pretty clear from the start. Here was my take: http://tinyurl.com/6zly55

As you say, this Skype Mobile app works in a similar way to iSkoot.

But there are other ways to do Skype on a mobile, notably the official full featured Skype for Windows Mobile, which does full VoIP. And, Fring, which takes a different route... but still offers free Skype calls.

I have been using Fring for a couple of years now, & it does everything you would want from Skype, & more.
It only uses your data connection & automatically downloads your Skype contacts. I think using Skype out through Fring is more expensive than from the normal Skype PC client, but verything else works the same. Why Skype didn't just buy Fring and have a great working product years ago?