Exclusive – Mobile communications startup fring, fresh off the heels of launching group video calls for smartphones, has raised a Series C round of financing from existing investors, TechCrunch has learned.
The amount that was raised is actually not being disclosed, but sources close to the company tell us that fring secured another $10 million in venture capital, bringing its total of funding… → Read More
Exclusive: Nimbuzz, a popular mobile communication service provider, has been asked by Skype to remove support for all Skype services, effective October 31st. The startup will be announcing the news to its 30 million or so registered users later today.
Nimbuzz sees the decision to ask for the removal of support for Skype services in line with the communication software giant’s “mandate to… → Read More
Late last week, mobile communication services provider fring released an updated iPhone app that enabled iPhone 4 owners to engage in unrestricted 2-way video calling over Wi-Fi or 3G internet with other iPhone, Android or Symbian devices. This garnered a lot of attention, mainly because Apple’s native FaceTime application works only over Wi-Fi and between iPhone users.
Hours after its release… → Read More
Late last week, mobile communication services provider fring released an updated iPhone app that enabled iPhone 4 owners to engage in unrestricted 2-way video calling over Wi-Fi or 3G internet with other iPhone, Android or Symbian devices. This garnered a lot of attention, mainly because Apple’s native FaceTime application works only over Wi-Fi and between iPhone users.
Hours after its release… → Read More
Last week, Fring took their first step into the video calling space by bringing Fring/Skype video support to a handful of Nokias. Not looking to let the momentum fizzle, Fring has already released their next video-enabled app — this time for the iPhone. → Read More
Apple has long been rumored to integrate video conferencing capabilities in the iPhone, and most expected Skype to incorporate such a feature in its free application for iPhone and iPod Touch devices sooner or later, but Israel’s fring is first to actually do it.
Big caveat for starters: the camera on the iPhone 3GS is located on the back, which is handy for recording videos of people and… → Read More
Fring, a tool for social communication through mobile phones, has (finally) landed on the Android platform, enabling users who own one of the many phones that run Google’s free open source system to download and install the application onto their devices for free.
With fring, users can make free VoIP calls over Skype, MSN, Google Talk and via hundreds of SIP providers. The app also supports live… → Read More
The Netherlands-based eBuddy, which markets a comprehensive application that lets users handle multiple instant messaging accounts from the web or their mobile phones, is today releasing an application for the Android platform a couple months after Meebo made its similar product available on there (November 2008).
The eBuddy application for Google’s open mobile OS is now available for free on the… → Read More
Fring, the Israel-based mobile call and chat application provider, has closed a Series C round of financing on top of the $13 million it has raised since its inception in 2006. The capital comes from its entire list of previous backers: North Bridge Venture Partners, Pitango Venture Capital, Veritas Venture Partners and VenFin Limited all participated in the round.
The actual amount raised was… → Read More
Skype is (finally) teaming up with mobile handset maker Nokia to get their VoIP and IM software program pre-installed on some of its devices, as announced at the Mobile World Congress and reported by MobileCrunch. The eBay-owned company had 405 million registered users in total at the end of last year, and Nokia is still the largest handset maker in the world until further notice, so this is a… → Read More
Mobile VoIP and IM service fring, one of the more popular mobile communication services around, is experimenting with porting a bunch of third-party apps to the fring client and will be announcing a number of those in the course of this year. Today, fring is launching a custom mobile-optimized Last.fm music radio add-on that brings a lot of the music recommendation service to the fring client but… → Read More
Israel-based mobile VoIP startup Fring joins the layoff parade by letting 10 people, or around 20% of total staff, go. Company CEO Avi Shechter says the company is doing well, though, and the layoffs were to ensure that the company had enough capital to get them past 2009.
Schechter also says Fring has recently raised a third round of financing, but declines to specify the amount or investors… → Read More
Fring is trialing something it should have implemented long ago if it ever planned to make money: ads.
Fring is essentially a mobile VoIP / chat service provider that works on the iPhone and any device running Windows Mobile or Symbian, with platform-agnostic technology that enables users to make free calls using the Fring service itself, Skype, Live Messenger, Google Talk, and other… → Read More
After 6 months of not-quite-official availability for those of us with jailbroken iPhones, Fring, a free mobile Voice-over-IP service (VoIP), has made its way to the App Store. With that, a day that some said would never come has arrived: Skype calls can now be made on the iPhone, no hacks required. Beyond the Skype functionality (which I imagine would be its most popular use), Fring also lets you… → Read More
Bummed out because the N78 doesn’t offer VoIP compatability right out of the box? Fear not – Fring has got you covered. Apparently using their own VoIP client rather than the Nokia-made client (which Nokia decided not to build into the latest N-series devices) required by other services, Fring has added support for both the N78 and the N96. If you’ve got an N78 or by some sort of… → Read More
Fring has a thing for Nokia as of late, it seems. It wasn’t too long ago that they added N810 support; then two days ago, they added support for the Nokia E71. Now they’ve gone and added the Nokia E66 to the list. I’d point out that there are other handsets Fring can be adding support for, but it seems like they’ve already got most of them covered. If you’re looking… → Read More
While most iPhone users are stuck with an iBrick this morning as Apple’ servers can’t complete the last step of the upgrade process, those of us smart enough to take the unofficial upgrade route 24 hours ago are happily trying out new App Store Apps. This morning I turned my iPhone into a VoIP phone by installing the new Truphone iPhone app (Truphone company profile). One of the iPhone… → Read More
UK-based Truphone, a VoIP service provider for Wifi/data enabled handsets, announced a £16.5 million ($32.7 million) second round of financing today, adding to the £12.5 million ($24.5 million) they raised a little over a year ago. What’s that $50+ million being used for? Cheap calls! Like Fring and a slew of others, Truphone allows free calls initiated from between Wifi/data enabled… → Read More
We’ve reported on Fring before at CG so there’s not much need to go into details about what they do, but if you’re new to the game then check here for details. Today, Fring launched an iPhone app that runs on jailbroken devices and seems to work pretty well based on the video provided by Fring. Free VoIP calls and IM on your iPhone. Sounds good to me. Grab it here. via TC → Read More
As Mike reported earlier today, Fring is launching a downloadable app for the iPhone that will allow people to make Skype and other VoIP calls over the data connection instead of using up talk minutes. Fring supports Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo and AIM services. It is now live. (Warning: You will need to Jailbreak your iPhone to make it work). The Fring blog has… → Read More
Fring, an Israeli startup that has a great VOIP/Chat service for mobile phones (see our February coverage), is launching an iPhone version of the service sometime in the next 24 hours, we’ve heard. This is not a browser-based chat app like FlickIM or Mundu. It should be a fully functional downloadable version of the application that allows users to access the fring, Skype, MSN Messenger… → Read More
There is no reason why mobile IM and VoIP software should be any different than PC-based versions. Case in point: Today, mobile VoIP startup Fring is adding some new features to its mobile application, including file-swapping. Fring uses your cell phone’s data plan or WiFi connection to make free Internet calls. Like Skype, it charges a small fee to connect to landline and mobile phones that… → Read More
While the consumer “landline replacement” VOIP battles continue to wage (the cable companies now control over 70% of that market, and Vonage is still fighting), a number of nimble software-only startups are experimenting with their own services. All of them allow users to call normal, non-VOIP telephones at greatly reduced costs. These savings can be captured whether or not the parties… → Read More
Israeli-based VOIP start-up Fring has closed an estimated $12 million second round, led by US VC fund North Bridge Venture Partners. VenFin and previous investors Pitango, Veritas and Yossi Vardi also participated. If the investment estimate is accurate, it would be one of the larger rounds for a VOIP company. Fring is a mobile application for Windows and Symbian phones that uses VOIP to make… → Read More
Fring is getting ready to announce that the free VoIP service will be coming to Windows Mobile devices, but I felt like spilling the beans and letting you all know first. Let the Fringing begin! Fring → Read More
As our sister site at Crunchgear is reporting, Fring is getting about to announce that their free VoIP service will be able for Windows Mobile devices, including Windows Mobile series 5.0 and 6.0 handsets and PDAs. Watch their own blog for more details. Fring → Read More
No, Fring isn’t some sort of new fangled slang all the rap kids are saying. Fring, dear readers, is a mobile VoIP application for mobile phones that utilize your mobile internet connection. So if you have an unlimited data plan then you can really take advantage of this application and lower your mobile phone bill every month. → Read More
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