Apple charges $.99 for FaceTime HD

Good ol’ Apple is charging a buck for the final version of FaceTime on the Mac. The reason? Probably to get people into the Mac App Store, get a purchase under their belt and of course get their credit card entered into the system.

Oh and it does 720P on supported Intel Macs.

FaceTime for Mac makes it easy to talk, smile and laugh with friends and family on their iPhone 4, iPod touch or Mac. Getting started is quick and easy — simply enter your Apple ID and you’re ready to go. Whether you’re talking to someone on an iPhone or on another Mac, video calls with FaceTime look great. There’s no better way to stay in touch with all your favorite faces.

Update: Apple says this was a Accounting requirement.

More screenies and description below:

Description
FaceTime for Mac makes it easy to talk, smile and laugh with friends and family on their iPhone 4, iPod touch or Mac. Getting started is quick and easy — simply enter your Apple ID and you’re ready to go. Whether you’re talking to someone on an iPhone or on another Mac, video calls with FaceTime look great. There’s no better way to stay in touch with all your favorite faces.

Simple to Get Started
• Setup is quick and easy – just enter your Apple ID.
• With just one click, you can make a video call to an iPhone 4, an iPod touch, or another Mac.

Easy-to-Organize Contacts
• Make calls using your existing Address Book contacts – you don’t have to enter your contacts from scratch.
• Add the people you call most often to your Favorites list.
• Quickly review your past calls with Recents.

High-Definition Video
• Receive HD video calls at up to 720p on supported, Intel-based Macs.*
• A Mac with a standard-definition camera delivers up to VGA-quality video for Mac-to-Mac calls.

Elegant Interface
• Window and playback controls fade away so the focus stays on your conversation.
• View transitions smoothly when an iPhone 4 or iPod touch user switches from front to rear cameras or from portrait to landscape views.
• FaceTime’s widescreen aspect ratio makes it easy for families and groups to participate in a call.
• Enjoy your video call full screen, using every inch of your beautiful Mac display.

Ring Anywhere, Any Time
• Incoming calls ring on your Mac, even if FaceTime isn’t running.
• If you have more than one Mac, incoming calls ring on every one so you can answer on the Mac that’s most convenient.

*Video calls require a built-in FaceTime camera, an iSight camera (built-in or external), a USB video class (UVC) camera, or a FireWire DV camcorder; and a 128-Kbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Making HD video calls requires a built-in FaceTime HD camera and a 1-Mbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Receiving HD video calls requires a supported Intel-based Mac (for a complete list, visit http://support.apple.com/bk/HT4534).