Hey guys

fring now has millions of fringsters covering the globe and as we grow up we want to make sure that fring remains free to download, free to use for all of our fringsters forever!

So, in line with our biz strategy, we’re about to trial the new fring ads program.

We wanted to give you the heads-up, as you may soon see small clickable advertising banners in the fring chat window, beneath the chat itself. Clicking the ad will open your browser and take you to the advertiser’s site; you may even find extra special offers, cool promos & other nice surprises behind the click from time to time And, more clicks mean happy advertisers; and happy advertisers mean more resources for us to develop cool new stuff for you to play with in fring!

We’re starting the ad trials with just a small number of randomly selected fringsters each day and we’ve worked hard to make sure that your fringing experience isn’t affected in any way, but as always, we’re really keen to hear your feedback.

The fring team

We love seeing all the videos that fringsters around the world create about their experiences with fring. So we’ve collected a few from around the web and created a special location to view, vote,comment, share ideas, give feedback and of course contribute new clips.

It’s all happening here so come over, take a look have your say or add your own.

BTW: To recognize your filmmaking talents, we’re doing a small ‘fring Oscars’ with some cool prizes to win in two different categories: Best Rated Clip, which is based on “ratings” given by you, through youTube (beginning Nov. 17 2008) & fring’s “Unofficial” Committee’s Favorite (basically the one that we at fring think is the coolest)…
The lucky winners will get a brand-new shiny iPod touch!

So go ahead and mail your fring video/link to: video@fring.com and…may the best fringster win!

We’ve been listening really closely to your input, suggestions & insights on the pre-release version and together with some supportive recommendations like “please code faster !!!” ;- ) we are happy to release fring for iPhone on the App Store (Supporting the iPhone and the new iPod touch devices).

We’ve added many new features to this version including ‘history tab’, ‘privacy settings’, ‘easy dialing from the main buddy list’ and many bug fixes.

This is a brand new, straight from the oven fring version (V1.0.1.4) The pre-release version is no longer available.

Have a great day

p.s We highly appreciate your feedback and insights, so as always, keep them coming!

The fring team

At last… almost everyone is fringable!

We’re really excited to release fring for loads of the most popular Sony Ericsson and Nokia phones out there (for those in the know, the ones running on JavaME (J2ME)) We’ve created a special version called minifring for these phones that don’t yet support voice over IP calling. With minifring these users will now be able to communicate with growing community of fringsters worldwide. Also, the great new fring applications which developers around the world are working on will soon be available in the fringAdd-ons catalog for the hundreds of newly supported Java ME devices too!

We also welcome Linux (Nokia N810) users with full fring features including internet calls, chat, presence and more + some unique features. I suspect there’s serious steroids in the water our R&D guys have been drinking….lol.

So pass the word around because with about 1,000 handsets now supported and more on the way, to get fring click here. we’re fringing everywhere!

The fringTEAM

* See full list of fring supported devices here.
* fring now has lots of capabilities and features that slightly differ depending on device platform capabilities so check out what your phone can do here.

The first fringAdd-ons now live including Facebook, Gmail notifier, Orkut and more!

Facebook, Gmail notifier, Orkut, vTap and Yandex.mail notifier are the first new mobile applications ready for you via fring! Thanks to our recently released fringAPI, developers have started creating all kinds of mobile games, tools, services and apps all available via the fring catalog of fringAdd-ons.

To get on with fringAdd-ons, restart fring –> click Options –> settings– > manage add-ons select the ones you want and your favorite apps will be always-on and always mobile via fring
(fring Add-ons are available for fring on Sony Ericsson -UIQ, Windows Mobile and Nokia Symbian 9 devices, Important! you’ll need fring’s latest version)

So what internet apps have you been dreaming about taking mobile? Dream no more – just find a developer to mobilize your favorite web apps for us all via fring!

As always, let us know what you think and how we can further help you go mobile!

Have fun!
The fringTEAM

Ever wanted the whole world to hear your sports play-by-play?

Ever thought to be a commentator but your tongue gets twisted when you try to talk that fast?

Now’s your chance to jump straight to the Olympics no less, even without a Sports Channel CV!

If you’re already booked to go to China to either participate (good luck!) or watch The Games (good for you!), then we may have an offer you can’t refuse. We’re looking for fringsters at the Olympics to share their experiences with the rest of us less-lucky folks who won’t see it live and who can’t be glued to our TVs while at work or running around all day!

We will happily provide the fring Olympics commentators with a 3.5G mobile phone with GPS, camera, local SIM card and (almost) unlimited data plan. In return, the fringCommentator will regularly micro-blog with quick updates & pictures (the winner, the loser, the cutest flag-bearer, the poor girl who lost her swimsuit, the poor guy who dropped the baton in the 4×100 meter final… you get the idea). If you’re a real sports enthusiast you may focus more on the records; if you’re more of a night owl, we may all live vicariously through your night-time escapades in the Olympic village - pics & videos most welcome!

Interested fringentators should apply here with a quick intro why you’d like to play and why you can share regular captivating microblogs from China with other fringsters worldwide. Remember to include your fring ID so we can discuss details.

fring for Nokia S60 devices: de-bugged, improved & enriched! You’ve been asking and we’ve been listening hard… then diligently gathering your bug alerts, requests and suggestions, and grinding through the list like busy beavers… So what have we done? - Improved stability – with significantly less interruption, logouts, etc - Made voice quality even better all round - Added speakerphone for Symbian 9.2 (Not sure which Symbian you are?) - Enabled file transfer from Yahoo! & Skype so you can now swap music, pics & vids over WiFi or 3G from mobile to mobile and mobile to PC! Its quick, reliable and of course free! No need for MMS, cable, Bluetooth or Infrared. Important! The easiest way to update your fring version is to point your mobile internet WAP browser at www.fring.com and download fring directly to your mobile. (Our R&D team are ready to zap any other bugs you and us might find, so please keep sending us your ideas, insights and bug alerts) Thanks for your support

Auto-roams (Wi-Fi<>3G), reaches you from anywhere online, talks your language and lots more!
Windows Mobile fringsters wait with(out) patience no more… we are glad to announce that several core fring functions are now up and running for your fab WM phones & PDAs.

- Auto-roam between 3G & Wi-Fi! Powered by our super-sleek connection manager, fring now automatically recognizes ‘friendly’ Wi-Fi network (one that you’ve previously logged onto) and auto-connects you. When you leave the zone, fring automatically connects your next call over 3G. We don’t care who operates the network, or what type it is so you get the best possible call quality and cost savings even if you don’t realize you’re in a Wi-Fi zone!

- WLAN support! For those of you who prefer to manually prioritize your access points including setting Wi-Fi / 3G network preferences, our connection manager puts the choice and control back in your hands.

- We now speak your language! fring is now available in 8 languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Italian and Russian. fring automatically installs the default language on your handset unless you manually request a language from More –> settings.

- The fringME! widget lets your online buddies communicate with you directly from internet pages! This widget lets you paste this cool new fringME! HTML code onto your own web pages, blogs and pretty much anywhere you have an internet presence of your own – enabling community members or casual visitors to instantly see whether you’re online, offline or busy in call and also chat with you directly from their computer. Download fringME! here.

- Improved sound quality & chat – including, upon popular request, new message blinking instead of interrupting a current session. So to auto-roam in and out of 3G & Wi-Fi zones, control your own network choices, talk your local tongue, stay in touch with your web buddies and enjoy improved sound & chat, just download the new Microsoft signed version here… and don’t forget to let us know how you go! (or even better simply point your mobile web browser to fring site and download fring latest WM version directly to your device)

fringsters it’s once again time for the glitz and glamor of one of the mobile world’s most prestigious award ceremonies, the Meffys. The Meffy awards are like an equivalent of the Oscars, only without the posh dresses and the red carpet! The Meffys honor the most influential mobile entertainment players from around the world and this year we’re proud to announce that fring has been nominated along with 4 other outstanding companies in the Handset Application Award category.

The winners of this prestigious award will be announced at the Meffys gala dinner on 8 May 2008 at the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, France.
fring is excited to be among the top players in the industry and we are looking forward to this event. In the spirit of good gamesmanship, we wish our fellow competitors well and may the best fring win this prestigious award!

OK. So if you’re one of the first lucky *#@$%&s to get your hands on an iPhone, you just got even luckier. We’ve just made a special pre-release R&D version of fring for your iPhone - a mobile VoIP app publicly available for the iPhone?…yep that’s a world-first!

This special pre-release version of fring, developed in conjunction with the Holon Institute of Technology academic research labs is a direct response to iPhone users kicking our behind to get fring for their COOOOOL devices. Part of the objective here (besides getting you all excited with fring for iPhone) is to get feedback prior to release of the full-feature version and create a truly superb user experience for iPhone users. So feel free to let us know what you think (…and be as honest as you like – we can take it! :-))
More info on what you get and how to get it at the fringcubator (fring lab).
…it’s fringing iPhone freedom!