Fring—a free chat client for the iPhone that supports most standards—has been updated to support video conferencing on the iPhone, using Wi-Fi. It works on Fring to Fring, and Skype to Fring. Unfortunately, it’s not bi-directional. You would be able to see whoever is calling you from a desktop, but you won’t be able to transmit your image, even if you have the 3G videoconferencing kit. The reason is a physical one, according to the developer: The iPhone doesn’t have a front camera, so you can’t do face to face.
Which begs the question once again: When in the name of all that is good and chromed is Apple going to update the iPhone with a front camera and iChat AV? Given their push for videoconferencing on the desktop, the power in the current iPhone, and the efficiency of their iChat AV video codecs, it can’t be far away. I hope. [iTunes App Store]
