Fring Skype/VOIP on Iphone
Techcrunch has an interesting update about Fring a voip/chat service for mobile phones which plans it’s launch for the iPhone sometime in the next day. While this does require a jailbroken iPhone for the time being, this technology will no doubt change the mobile phone industry once it’s available to the public through the iPhone app store launching in June.
VOIP over the iPhone means there’s no need to use calling plan minutes to make phone calls. Whil this may currently be limited to areas with WIFI signal, the minutes and money saved could be astronomical. With a service like this the iPhone could truly become a land line replacement assuming you have a solid WIFI connection. What’s more, if the 3G iPhone proves to have adequate bandwidth, VOIP calls might even be possible over the data plan.
What will this mean for Apple and At&t? Apple is positioned very well with their innovative device years ahead of the competition. AT&T on the other hand is stuck providing a commodity and with alternatives like WIFI becoming more an more available, long term I think you’ll see their pricing plans change to reflect the shift in data-plan usage from VOIP and potentially mobile video chat.