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Skype blocks Fring
July 13, 2010 | Author: Adam Levine
As we have stated, mobile video calls are becoming the next big thing, and it seems, that Fring - is too small company to compete with such giants as Skype, Google and Apple in this market. Last week, Fring enabled making video calls on 3G for iPhone users. This new feature has become so popular that within a few hours after launch, Fring servers couldn't stand to load and Fring decided to temporarily disable support for Fring-to-Skype calls. In a few days Fring expanded its capacity, but Skype support has not been resumed. Today Fring blog has reported that Skype has blocked these calls and threatened to sue Fring. Quote from the blog: "They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards".
A few hours later Skype responded in its blog: "An hour or so ago, Fring reported on its blog that we had blocked their access to Skype. This is untrue. Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn’t designed to be used – and in a way which is in breach of Skype’s API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement. We’ve been talking with Fring for some time to try to resolve this amicably. We actively encourage developers to build products that work with Skype API. At the same time, Skype will rigorously protect our brand and reputation, and those developers that do not comply with our terms will be subject to legal enforcement."
It looks like Skype just decided to take a moment and gently remove the competitor. However, Skype itself has not yet added video calls to its iPhone client.
See also: Top 10 VoIP services
