fring vs Qik

Fring was one of the first who released a special messenger for the iPad when it appeared in 2010 and even tried to get people calling via iPad, as via the usual phone. And now Fring one of the first releasing the video chat for iPad 2, and at once with the group video support (fo 4 participants). The application provides the optimized picture quality, works over Wi-Fi and 3G, and can switch between the front and back cameras, but for now can't make SIP calls to regular phones. Also, recently the video showing Skype's video chat working on the iPad has leaked to the Web (see below). Unlike Fring, this application is still under development. But it's a good sign that after the acquisition by Microsoft, Skype continues to develop its apps for the competing (Apple) platforms.

Sold out to Microsoft, Skype on the one hand secured itself the bright future in the stable Microsoft empire, and on the other hand - killed its bright future as a global public communications service. No one ever will look at Skype, as at the independent service that suits everyone and works everywhere. This niche is now empty and someone has to take it. Besides, we expect that in the near future the communication services, owned by Microsoft rivals, will also make the considerable steps forward in order to keep the balance of power. Here are 5 products that (we think) will compete with Microsoft Skype:

Thanks God, that there are such startups as Fring. Only thanks to them business technologies are going forward relatively quickly and IT giants like Skype begin to move ass faster and reduce their planning and development cycles that would usually take months and years. While most users still don't know how to make video calls using a smartphone, Fring is coming with group video chat for iPhone and Android (but only in the closed beta so far). Fring's group video call can support up to 4 people and you can see video streams of all participants on the display. Of course, its doubtful that this feature will become very popular in the near future and it will be possible to earn on it. But its exciting that such startup as Fring can afford to develop such innovations.

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".

Fring was the first video chat application on the iPhone. However, without frontal camera, it was not very helpful. But together with the front camera on iPhone, Apple introduced  it's own video chat program Facetime, that supported two-way video calls and immediately replaced Fring. Now Fring strikes back. Today, the strartup has launched the new iPhone app, which also supports two-way video calls, and in addition, has two major advantages over Facetime. First, it works via 3G (and Facetime - only via Wi-Fi), and second, it allows iPhone users to communicate with those who use Android and Nokia S40 smartphones, that run Fring (and Facetime supports video calls only between iPhones). However, the benefits of Facetime - are simplicity and iPhone native integration (to start a video call - you don't need to launch third-party program), and higher video quality.

A couple of weeks ago we suggested that Google is going to shift the video communications market (and win Skype), betting on mobile video calls. Today we can accurately say that very soon mobile video chat will become a huge market and the IT giants will fight for it. It's enough to watch the Facetime (iPhone 4 video chat) presentation to understand this. Since June 24 Apple will start selling iPhone 4 with the front camera and video over Wi-Fi in US, and it's obvious that to the and of this year millions of users will make video calls via the iPhone, and Apple will become the world's largest mobile video chat provider. But it will be only the short term win. Then Skype, Google and other players will join the fight.

Earlier this year, we forecast the active competition between Skype and Google for the mobile video chat market. And the companies justify our expectations. Yesterday Google launched the (wireless) update of Android-smartphones, that adds voice and video chat to mobile Google Talk. At first Nexus S models will be updated, then all other devices running Android 2.3 and higher. Built-in video chat on Android will work via Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G networks, and will allow to call from a smartphone to GMail and back. Recall that the operating system for tablets Android Honeycomb already has in-built video chat. Meanwhile, Skype is already ahead of its competitor - it already offers video chat for Android and iPhone, and even lets you make video calls between these devices.