Fring, the company founded by
Avi Shechter, the former co–CEO of ICQ and VP at AOL, has announced
that it released a test version of its popular application which brings
Skype, as well as MSN, Google Talk and AIM to Apple's iPhone.
"This
special pre-release version of fring, developed in conjunction with the
Holon Institute of Technology academic research labs is a direct
response to iPhone users kicking our behind to get fring for their
COOOOOL devices," the company said on its website.
"Part of the
objective here (besides getting you all excited with fring for iPhone)
is to get feedback prior to release of the full-feature version and
create a truly superb user experience for iPhone users," Fring says.
The
fring application is only available to those who jailbroke their
iPhones or iPod Touches. The application is not endorsed by Apple which
is against VoIP applications for its gadgets. This is the case because
access to free calls could dramatically cut into the profit margins of
the carriers licensed to supply the handset, and everything Apple does
is about large profit margins (like its Mac desktop computers). Also,
application runs in the background, which is forbidden by Apple.
