Sometime next week Skype will unveil a new public beta product with a Group Video Calling feature that will allow users to participate in a group video chat with up to five people.

PC owners will be first to get the new multi-video chat feature, though a Mac version is expected later this year.

Group Video Calling will be free at first, but Skype has plans to bundle it with upcoming features and eventually — in three to four months time — charge for the additional functionalities.

Skype has already become a ubiquitous consumer service and business utility. The addition of five-person video chat will make for a welcome change, especially for TV owners who upgrade to Skype-friendly sets. We also imagine five-person video calling will appeal to business users.

This month, the only good way to get Skype for Symbian on a Nokia Series 60 smartphone was to download it from Skype’s Web site or a site like CNET Download.com. On Wednesday, Skype announced that its VoIP calling app is now available through Nokia’s Ovi storefront.

The free Skype app for Symbian smartphones (which really should be renamed Skype for Nokia) has the usual Skype features of placing and receiving VoIP calls and support for IM and international SMS. Beyond the basics, this build is also capable of transferring files and integrating with the phone’s camera and address book. Skype is not be available on all Nokia models.

It is little surprising that it’s taken Skype so long to get its app listed in the Ovi catalog, especially since the Ovi store came into being in just about 10 months ago. Still, new and existing users will find it easier to keep the communications app up-to-date on their phone.