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Skype, Fring Get in a 3G Cat Fight, We Grab a Seat and Popcorn

by Amar Toor on July 13, 2010 at 11:10 AM

skype and fring logosA cat fight akin to something seen on '90210' or 'The Hills' has erupted at the App Store, between two companies that offer VoIP Web chatting services. It seems to have started last week, when Israel-based Fring announced a new service that would allow users to video-chat over an iPhone 4's 3G connection instead of Wi-Fi. Fring also decided to temporarily pull Skype from its new iPhone app, citing functionality demands. Skype, as you can imagine, didn't exactly warm up to the idea of having a Web-based mobile company move onto its 3G turf. From this point, the story diverges.

According to Fring, Skype blocked its service altogether, simply because it was "afraid of mobile competition." In a blog post, the company accused Skype of being "cowards" that had "once championed the cause of openness." Skype, meanwhile, claims that "there is no truth to Fring's claims that Skype blocked them, it was their decision and choice to withdraw Skype functionality." Skype also took to its own blog, where it claimed that "Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn't designed to be used," thus violating Skype's API Terms of Use and license agreements.


It's unclear who's to blame for the rift, but at this point, it doesn't really matter. Considering the kinds of fireballs these two are hurling at each other, we probably won't be seeing them holding hands any time soon. [From: CNET, New York Times and Wired]

Tags: 3G, apple, appstore, business, Fring, iphone, Iphone3g, Iphone4, skype, SkypeForIphone, top, videochat, voip, web

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