Earlier today, fring, the mobile VoIP service and community provider, announced that they would soon be introducing advertisements into the fring client.

While it is noted that it is merely a trial, one has to suspect that this move by fring is in direct response to the current economic conditions and the need for venture backed start-up’s with free services to start making money. The ad supported calling model has been around for a long time, but with mixed results. Some companies have found a way to make it work. Others haven’t been so lucky.

Certainly one hopes fring the best, but the ad supported route seems like a tough go. Users generally detest ads (that’s why there are none on this site) or grow blind of them and don’t forget that ad budgets are getting cut everywhere, especially for “experimental” vehicles such as mobile advertising. This isn’t insurmountable (nothing is), but the odds certainly are stacked against them.

As someone who uses fring frequently, i’m indifferent.  I don’t mind the ads, but then again, I probably won’t be clicking on them either.