Israeli company Fring has made its VoIP application (also known as Fring) available on the iPhone and on the iPod Touch. Users will now gain access to Skype, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, ICQ and SIP (both voice and chat) plus Twitter, Yahoo and AIM (chat only).

On one hand, Skype hasn’t been able to come up with a iPhone version due to technical difficulties encountered when trying to get its protocols to run on the device; Fring, on the other hand, has managed to succeed by directing Skype traffic through its own protocols.

"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," a post on the Fring blog says.

This move does however raise some controversy, as, unlike other accepted third party applications, Apple has not approved this one. iPhone owners who wish to use it, can do so on a jailbroken device. Obviously enough, enabling free calls on cell phones would not be what one would call "doing good business" as far as phone companies are concerned. As the phone would turn into sort of a far more permissive walkie-talkie, it could cause carriers significant profit losses.

Apple is relying on people’s honesty and is still hopeful that iPhone users will not temper with their handsets, but given the appeal this new unofficial software has, nothing can be said with certainty anymore.