Mobile VoIP and IM service fring, one of the more popular mobile communication services around, is experimenting with porting a bunch of third-party apps to the fring client and will be announcing a number of those in the course of this year. Today, fring is launching a custom mobile-optimized Last.fm music radio add-on that brings a lot of the music recommendation service to the fring client but also integrates with the latter’s social and communication features.
Fring users (also referred to as fringsters) are now able to fire up streamed music radio channels, including their own Last.fm library, tag favourites, ban disliked tracks, view album artwork and basically take their Last.fm music account mobile. In addition to getting those features into the client, fringsters can also opt to view in real-time what their contacts are currently listening to, with the help of a friends list embedded into the Last.fm add-on.
Like Last.fm’s own Android application, which it introduced just last week, the add-on can be run in the background enabling users to listen to streamed music channels while they’re using other fring features.
Third parties can built add-ons on top of fring using its API, for which you can find more information here.
The Israeli company, which recently laid off 20% of its workforce but continues to surge with on average 400,000 new downloads per month, has made it public that they’ve raised 3 rounds of financing so far, although they’re only disclosing two rounds of funding amounting up to $13 million for now. Although they’ve recently started showing ads to mobile users, the jury is still out if there’s enough sustainability in the business model for the service to keep them alive.
cool. would love last.fm for skype too.
Sorry but everyone in skype has been brain-dead for 24 months now.
I dunno, the Facebook integration on this app is pretty kludgy — plus S60 handsets already have their own excellent Last.fm client:
http://code.goo....com/p/mobbler/
For symbian platforms, Mobbler makes a much better Last.fm client and scrobbler.
We love fring in India!
This is a great service, and one which people and mobile operators would gladly pay money for. Unlike many other Web 2.0 companies (which are sometime not real companies but just products, or even just product features), fring has figured out how to solve an important problem in a highly efficient manner.
I don’t have enough space to detail my thoughts here on why this is so important, but I have written a lengthy post on my blog
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Indian Street Delivery Workers
http://smartbab...learn-from.html
Possibly not the best time to pour money into Israel.
This makes no sense. I would much rather see Fring improve its core service – communication – before adding on unnecessary bells and whistles. My Google friends have been shown as online for 3 months now, the app always crashes, there’s no way to edit basic options like turning off the sound… but hey I can listen to Last.fm now. ?!
This is a good news! Another new feature added to Fring.
does seem like a bit of a pointless exercise – most of Fring’s users are looking for IM etc
I doubt the typical user cares about last.fm integration
I agree with “A”. Fring is an excellent application but still looks a tad amateur compared to other Symbian apps (not sure about the iPhone version etc). They should jazz it up a bit, stabilize it, add features that make it more user friendly.
They’re never going to beat Mobbler, they shouldn’t even try to compete with it, ….Mobbler is simply a killer app, and fring can be too as long as they don’t lose focus and they concentrate on core functionality. VOIP and IP Chat, that’s fring’s business.
Andy
{seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/oGzkGqfmYP_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:” ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/5toOi2mEge”}}}
This is good news
good news
I’m a huge fring fan, and a last.fm fan. so this will definitely work for me.
Awesome – I’ve been waiting for something like this for awhile. Music definitely needs to sync up better with existing mobile communication platforms…
More thoughts at http://www.musimuse.com
Its the case of more the merrier here, the fring for my iphone has been my lifesaver for overseas calls. Great work here, keep it up!
CoolestJobsOnline
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