Fring Opens Mobile Platform to Developers

For all my harping on cellular providers' ho-hum attempts to deliver quality mobile social content, I like to think I'm holding out for the real goods.  From what I can tell, Fring might just be the at the head of the mobile social platform pack. 

Fring is a free mobile platform that allows users to access social communities like Skype, MSN Messenger, GTalk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM on the go via cellular devices.  For most of those platforms (excluding Yahoo! and AIM, which aren't supported yet), Fring lets users make free calls from their handsets to friends and contacts using any of the many VoIP services supported by Fring.  

Fring operates on standard data transfer rates, so users' phones don't necessarily need WiFi to use the platform. If users' cell phones are equipped for WiFi, Fring automatically remembers WiFi hotspots and networks to cut down on data costs.  

Fring has also recently been updated so users can send music, video, document, ringtone and game files to other users from their handsets.  Fring supports users of UIQ, Symbian, and Windows Mobile handsets.

I'm currently being as patient as possible with T-Mobile, hoping my disappointing service provider can pick up one of the quality HTC handsets due for release this fall (preferably the HTC Touch Diamond or Touch Pro).  For now, I'm stuck with an outdated Samsung candybar, so I can't try out Fring quite yet.  If I could, I most certainly would.

The big news is that Fring is opening its API to the developer community, which should promote a fleet of add-ons and various applications that will be indexed in Fring's catalogue.  If Fring is the platform it seems to be, I see great things coming from opening up the Fring API.

Fring also recently released an iPhone-friendly build of its platform, so all those unlimited data plans can now be put to good VoIP use.  Many iPhone users have been looking for a good VoIP solution, and though Loopt won the spotlight at the Apple WWDC keynote this  year for being a great iPhone social network, my vote is for Fring at the moment.