Fring, the mobile communications and social networking aggregator, says that VoIP provider Skype is blocking all interconnectivity between the two services. But Skype says it’s not to blame.

According to a press release from fring, it is “being forced to stop its four years of Skype interconnectivity following threat of legal action.”

The news comes just days after fring announced that a new version of its iPhone app had been approved at the App Store. The new app allows users to make video calls over 3G, something the Skype iPhone app still lacks. Fring calls the move by Skype “anti-competitive ambush.”

Fring went so far as to call Skype “cowards” in a blog post on the company’s website:

“They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards.

Needless to say, we are very disappointed that Skype, who once championed the cause of openness, is now trying to muzzle competition, even at the expense of its own users.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience Skype has caused you.”

Skype says fring is the one causing the inconvenience.

An official statement from Skype said that “Skype is disappointed that an amicable resolution was not possible but Fring’s decision to withdraw Skype functionality immediately was of its own choice.” The statement goes on to say that Skype encourages developers to build products that work with Skype APIs but that it will “rigorously protect its brand and reputation and those companies that do not comply with our terms will be subject to enforcement.”

Skype and fring do compete in the same market, as both companies offer VoIP, IM and video calling services. Skype recently released a new iPhone app that will bring changes to the service come the end of the year. While Skype-to-Skype calling will remain free, users will be asked to pay if they want to make Skype calls to cell phones or landlines over 3G using the iPhone app. Pricing details for this feature are yet to be announced, as price testing is ongoing.

Google has released a new piece of software called App Inventor that allows lay users to create relatively complex mobile applications for the Android platform. According to a blog posted on Google’s website, the new system will allow users who don’t know a shred of programming to create apps by dragging and dropping commonly used “blocks” of Java code into a template.

App Inventor allows users to create apps that are sophisticated enough that they can store data created by users in a database. Users also can create apps that use GPS location information and automatically send text messages.

The blocks editor uses the Open Blocks Java library for creating visual blocks programming languages. Open Blocks is distributed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Scheller Teacher Education Program and derives from thesis research by Ricarose Roque. Open Blocks visual programming is closely related to the Scratch programming language, a project of the MIT Media Laboratory’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group.

The compiler that translates the visual blocks language for implementation on Android uses the Kawa Language Framework and Kawa’s dialect of the Scheme programming language, developed by Per Bothner and distributed as part of the Gnu Operating System by the Free Software Foundation.

Germany’s T-Mobile, or Deutsche Telekom, has made the first voice call over LTE using VoLGA technology.

The Voice over LTE via Generic Access specification was developed to provide operators an alternative to CS Fallback. VoLGA supporters argue Circuit Switch Fallback is an inadequate solution to handle voice over LTE networks, despite the technology’s backing from the 3GPP.

“The VoLGA test shows how operators could quickly and easily provide next-generation voice services, re-using their existing core networks,” said Uwe Janssen, senior vice president of core networks at Deutsche Telekom, in a press release. “At the same time, this serves as a first step to prepare networks for the industry-agreed mid- and long-term solution for voice over LTE that will be based on IMS.”

The test marks a vote of confidence on the part of Deutsche Telekom that it intends to move ahead with the controversial technology, which is not supported by the 3GPP standards body. So far, Deutsche Telekom is the only operator to openly support VoLGA.

The calls were made between a test system installed at Deutsche Telekom Headquarters in Bonn, Germany, based on a VoLGA implementation of Kineto Wireless and an independent system from Alcatel-Lucent, installed in their test center in Stuttgart, Germany. Both VoLGA-based Voice over LTE systems support inbound and outbound voice calling and SMS messaging between LTE-enabled devices and standard mobile and fixed telephones.

“Voice calling is an essential service for mobile operators. This demonstration is a key milestone towards establishing a future-proof ecosystem and shows a cost efficient way for using voice over LTE”, Janssen said.

VoLGA is purported to be a long-term interim solution before carriers migrate to IMS as a permanent method of handling voice over LTE networks. The alternative interim technology, CS Fallback, routes calls over legacy networks.

In a white paper commissioned by VoLGA supporter Kineto Wireless, analyst Dean Bubley called CS Fallback “dying if not already dead.”

“Charting a course on LTE, without understanding exactly when IMS telephony will arrive or how much it will cost, and without a viable alternative, is quite risky,” he said. “VoLGA supports all the standard mobile telephony capabilities in Deutsche Telekom’s network today, as well as all the value-added intelligent network capabilities like prepaid, local number portability, toll free calling and many more.”