Fring may not be much of a household name yet, but the mobile-communications client is certainly making a reputation for itself. Following a public falling-out with Skype earlier in the year, the company has now launched fringOut to allow cheap international VoIP calls to phones.
The suspiciously familiar-sounding service enables "almost-free" international calling from a mobile to a phone anywhere else in the world. This translates into rates of under one US cent per minute to many countries, including the UK and Canada. Of course, you'll still need a data plan to make the calls.
As a part of the announcement, Fring CEO Avi Shechter explained that, "hundreds of millions of people have tried low-cost internet calling on their PC or through restricted mobile offerings. With the launch of fringOut, fringsters can benefit from internet calling with the convenience of mobile without cumbersome wires and cables".
Obviously the client also supports text, voice and video conversations with other Fring users, as well as integration with Windows Live, Google Talk, Yahoo, AIM and other services - though clearly not Skype.
Even though the app is available for other mobile operating-systems, fringOut is currently only enabled for S60/Symbian-based handsets. However, iOS and Android support are currently in the works and should be available soon.
Despite its issues with Skype, Fring appears undeterred and seems intent on establishing itself as a major player in the mobile-VoIP market.
