Skype beats FaceTime for Mac: 18—13

Welcome to the desktop, Apple! Facetime for Mac is shipping. How does this stack up versus Skype for Mac users?

1. Network Size. How many people use FaceTime and Skype? That’s the outer limit of the number of people you can possibly video call. Today, at launch, FaceTime might have a few million iOS users. By November I’m pretty sure the number will top ten million as Mac users everywhere install and connect the first meaningful update to iChat in umpteen years. Skype is still a vastly larger network (nearly 600 million accounts, 150 million active users) and connects to people who don’t have video phones and even to non-Apple products and phone.
        Video remains, for most people, for now, a medium for those close to you; family, friends, colleagues. If your friends are on Skype or FaceTime you can be quite happy. Skype brings an added value in the hundreds of millions of potential friends, family, colleagues, and customers you can discover and talk with. 2 points: Skype.
2. Video Quality. Skype and FaceTime both use h.264 video codecs and whatever camera happens to be available. Skype offers some higher resolution video in the HD range, when camera, bandwidth and CPU permit. 2 points: Skype.
3. How Many People in a Video Call. FaceTime for Mac: 2 parties. Skype for Mac: 2 parties (10 parties coming soon). 2 points: Skype and Apple. 
4. Talking with Mobile Clients. FaceTime for Mac talks with FaceTime for the latest iPod Touch and iPhone. Skype for Mac lets you have video calls with a few Nokia tablets but Skype video calling is still not available on smartphones. 3 points: Apple.
5. Talking With Non-Apple Products. FaceTime isn’t there yet, if ever. Skype lets you call and conference with other Mac, Windows, and Linux users; Android and Symbian mobile phones; and Skype apps running on TVs from Samsung, LG and Panasonic. 2 points: Skype.
6. Additional Modes. FaceTime offers video calls. Skype offers voice calls, voice conferencing, video conferencing, screen sharing, instant messaging, and file transfer. 2 points: Skype.
7. Security. Skype video calls are encrypted end-to-end, for now. We don’t know if FaceTime calls are encrypted at all. Doubtful. 2 points: Skype.
8. Performance with Scarce Resources. We won’t know for a while how FaceTime performs with flaky or limited bandwidth, or with other software competing for your Mac’s memory or processor. Apple has tried to stack the deck by only running on Macs with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard, recent models. Skype has been optimizing for less-than-optimal conditions since 2003. 2 points: Skype.
9. Mac integration. Both use the native Mac address book. Skype syncs your addressbook across all of your Skype clients. It doesn’t appear Apple does the same for your iPhone and Mac addressbooks without support from another service. Dan York notes FaceTime doesn’t let other apps use your webcam. 1 point: Skype.
10. Ease of Use and Convenience. FaceTime for Mac uses the newest QuickTime UI guidelines and is easy to setup, install, find friends by email addresses and phone numbers, and use. Skype is also easy but Apple takes this one for elegance. 3 points: Apple.
11. Price. FaceTime is free. Skype one-to-one video calls will stay free but multiparty calls will cost something; Skype will let us know how much in November. 2 points: Apple.
12. Joy. Video calling, live, free! This improves Gross National Happiness! Helps lovers boost hormones at a glance! Helps people with honest faces get jobs! More video calling is better! 3 points: Tie.

In short: FaceTime: 13, Skype: 18.