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Fring Calls Skype 'Cowards'; Skype Responds
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that Skype and Fring are not getting along so well today. First, Fring made a claim that Skype was blocking Fring and in a subsequent blog post, called Skype 'cowards': 'Now that Fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so. They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards.' Skype has responded, stating that Fring's misuse of Skype software was damaging their brand and reputation: 'There is no truth to Fring's claims that Skype has blocked it. Fring made the decision to remove Skype functionality on its own.'
-picks up phone-
"Hello sir, this is Skype calling"
-hangs up-
Skype’s client does not offer many of the new iOS4 features that Fring is quick to jump on, namely video calling, background operation, and even push notifications which have been around for a long time. One could argue that Fring’s client allows Skype users to use these features with Skype, which is something that users want. Skype is notoriously slow at adopting new features such as these, and is also slow at their geographical expansion. You still cannot get a Canadian Skype-In number, but there are a host of Canadian VOIP services offering phone numbers for example.
Basically, sounds like the vanilla Skype client is not ready to adopt this technology on their iPhone apps, but Fring already has, using Skype's API. This makes Skype's devs look bad, obviously, if a third party's app is surpassing their native app on their native API. Sounds like a lot of code-dick measuring as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, Skype still wins if Fring violated any licensing agreements (which it seems like Skype is implying)
that's teh shizzle bizzle
Well, clicking one of the links in the summary brings you to a page on the Fring website, which explains what is going on and that "Since its foundation in 2006, fring’s rich mobile communications have been available to both fring users and open 3rd party networks including GoogleTalk, SIP, Twitter and, until now, Skype."
Here's the secret to immortality:
"They deserved the block, and we didn't block them anyway" sounds like an odd denial.
Mind you, I think Fring is going about it wrongly and nobody who seriously wants an open standard and a sensible platform should even glance at Skype. Work with XMPP or the Wave protocol or something.
Same here, although I'm basing this on my past experiences with Fring on Windows Mobile and Android - not sure what the iPhone version is like.
They were pretty awful...
1. Horrible interface - incredibly ugly, unintuitive, and not very consistent
2. Not very reliable in either the sense of program stability or the ability to connect consistently
3. Horrible, horrible horrible horrible (!!!!!) Skype VoIP quality. Skype calls through Fring on Android, for instance, sound far worse than with, say, Nimbuzz. While Nimbuzz Skype calls are better than GSM in terms of clarity and on par in terms of latency, Fring sounds scratchy, overly compressed and introduces pretty bad latencies.
I can definitely see where Skype's coming from, and would agree: Fring has been damaging Skype's image.
That said, I don't like what Skype's been doing lately either - exclusive partnerships with Verizon, no Android app whatsoever...
I believe Skype, but I don't side with them.
Look at what skype said:
"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."
Note that they don't say what, and given what other people have said here it would fit in perfectly that what is actually happening is:
1) Skype are notoriously slow about adding new features to the official client
2) Fring added the features themselves.
3) Skype told Fring to stop adding features that they haven't added to the official client
4) Fring did not want to remove the features that their users demanded and in frustration and to get attention they removed video support.
5) Both sides feel that they are the victim.
This seems to fit in with what the comments are saying. For example
"People want to use Skype NOW!!!! Skype takes FOREVER to release updates for their iOS software!! You had a working demo of Skype on iOS 4.0 back when Apple first announced iOS 4.0 yet there STILL hasn't been a release months later. "
and
"And the whole issue with charging for Skype Over 3G? I already pay you for a monthly subscription, now I will have to pay extra to use it on my iPhone over 3G? "
We can continue in Dutch, German or French if you want? English isn't my first language. Thanks for the education though. You forgot to actually reply on my comment btw.
Let that be a lesson to all, that those who base their business model around a third party are doomed to fail... In Fring's business plan, I'm sure one of the single points of failure is the fact that at any time, Skype can choose to put them out of business by adding one or two lines of iptables filter rules to their firewall.
They should do what skype does, not attempt to piggy-back on skype. It doesn't work, because eventually your business will actually grow, and then what happens is skype becomes your competitor, rather than your friend. Once this happens, it becomes in their best interest to remove you from the equation.
If you read the Robert Miller, Skype's VP of Legal, post, you will surely notice, that they deny technically blocking fring, but don't deny leagally threatening them if they continue to provide skype connectivity. Which is exactly what fring has written in it's press release. The rest about fring damaging their brand reputation is peanuts compared to what they have done themselves with this move. With prompt response skype has generated enough spin, through which they were able to confuse some pinheads, which now resort to nothing more than blind faith when choosing sides. #$%&!