Fring vs. Skype: OTT vs. OOTT

  

So far we have seen the fight between carriers/ISPs and Over-The-Top (OTT) service providers (a.k.a "Net Neutrality") - now we go one level up - OTT vs. application providers using their APIs (Over-Over-The-Top).

The current fight is between Fring And Skype.

Fring (video below) is "a free mobile application that lets users communicate with friends on popular networks over their mobile phone's internet connection. Fring users make free mobile calls .. on fring & other internet services like Skype®, MSN Messenger®, GoogleTalk™, AIM®, ICQ® , Facebook® & Twitter, all through one central, integrated phone book. See the full feature list here."

Now, Fring says (in its blog post "Skype Cowardly Blocks fring" - here) that "Now that fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so. They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards."

Skype sees this differently.

Robert Miller, Skype's General Counsel says in Skype's Blog ("Fring’s mis-use of Skype software was damaging to our brand and reputation" - here) - ".. over time, Fring’s mis-use of our software was increasingly damaging our brand and reputation with our customers. .. there is no truth to Fring’s claims that Skype has blocked it. Fring made the decision to remove Skype functionality on its own").

No diplomacy here ... 

I wonder how Skype will react if a carrier would say something like - bad quality of Skype calls damages our brand - so we decided to block them.

Related posts:

• "Skype to EU Carriers: "The Network is not Yours" - here 
• "Skype: We Will Charge 3G Calls to Ensure QoS Stays High (Net Neutrality?)" - here