Popular mobile IM and VOIP service Fring just launched an Application Programming Interface that could bring some awesome new applications to mobile phones around the world. The new API offers the Fring mobile interface, IM, presence indication, file transfer and other features to developers seeking to build apps in standard server-side languages. Fring ties in to users’ Google Talk, MSN Messenger, ICQ and Skype IM accounts.
While the iPhone App Store will open some day soon, will be available around the world and will be usable on more affordable handsets than is the case today – Fring may still be more globally accessible than iPhone apps will be.
At launch the API is only available for Symbian S60 9.2 phones and there are no working examples of apps yet. The platform should expand and a catalog of applications open by the end of July.
What would you like to see tied into Fring? I’d love to see some FriendFeed integration, perhaps Qik and I imagine interesting things could be done with VOIP and Yelp and Fring presence and Fireeagle location tracking. How about a notification when I’m near a contact’s physical location and they are available online for IM contact? That would be great.
The company is well funded, has an app for the jailbroken iPhone and reports that it’s seeing more than 100k new downloads every month around the world. Here at RWW many of us are happy Fring users and we’re excited to see what the developer community can add to our IM, VOIP and file transferring mobile experience. Presence data, knowing when contacts are online and off, adds a particular exciting dimension to any application – mobile apps leveraging presence could prove wildly useful.
