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11/3/13
17:33
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US WATCH
From Barcelona to Sunnyvale: Mobile video zeitgeist
Howard Greenfield reports on three start-ups in the mobile video space
M
obile World Congress, the big Kahuna of mobile technology in Barcelona in late February, showcased the newest trends from across the planet. But back in Silicon Valley, developments just as compelling continued apace. Last year (along with hun-
poised to become lucrative business models. And they will pop if their execution is as brilliant as their seed idea. As proof points, consider just one tiny grouping from Silicon Valley: WeVideo Box, and YesVideo - and one more for good measure from New York City - Vine.
dreds of other Einsteins) I cleverly coined ‘Video is the New Text’ as my column title about edX, the MIT/Harvard e-video initiative. This year, new interactive services are increasingly at our fingertips in the living room as well as the subway. The multi-screen proliferation of video content from TV to PC and mobile devices is leaving no stone unturned. Its rampage is foisting power and control upon the masses foreseen only by forward-looking geeks just two years ago. These capabilities are luring consumers with new creative mobile production tools. So, as all things cloud-based this and cloud-based that are being extolled, it’s striking how many tangible mobile apps and services—risk-taking innovations betting on new media - are
The first, WeVideo, is a former Norwegian startup that moved to the US, pulled down $20m in Series A funding last year, and has built out a web video editing service. The company has already delivered a YouTube editor, Google drive partnership, and Disney promotion of The Avengers movie release that lets movie fans create custom movie trailers. Located in Palo Alto, its application includes a story-board UI, timeline lay-outs for experts, as well as a ‘super simple’ mode for beginner, or lay editors. WeVideo even lets you select video clips and graphics from Facebook, Instagram, and Dropbox for editing. “We are the first to truly deliver an Instagram video experience,” says CEO Jostein
Svendsen, who adds that the company’s vision is to help consumers create great videos “from anywhere and on any device”. Enterprise cloud storage company Box, is an unusual application enabler in this mix. At the February Tablet Strategy West conference in San Francisco, Chris Yeh, VP of Platform Engineering, explained the US/Canada National Hockey League’s (NHLPA) team video project. For one month, five league players used BlackBerry PlayBooks to make reality videos of their lives which were then edited into webisodes featured during the 2012 hockey season. Using an app created specially for the PlayBook, players uploaded their daily video files to Box where NHLPA editors produced up-to-the minute content. The NHLPA believes this has built a larger audience by creating more engagement with hockey fans everywhere. Yeh also referenced his company’s free 5GB storage offer – and pointed out consumers should look out for the regular 50 GB free specials that Box runs from time to time. Another Palo Alto company, YesVideo, claims over 5m customers have used its service since 1999 to transfer videotapes to DVD and online. Its iPhone app allows consumers to access personal video on-the-go. Michael Chang, CEO, formerly head of Greystripe, recently remarked in TechCrunch that he believes video cloud storage will become free. He believes Google is best positioned to fund such an initiative, but that Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu are also empowering consumers to “take part in their content” with interactive features that let them create their clips in the
Howard Greenfield
is strategic director of business development at NXP Software and president of Go Associates, a global consulting firm helping companies bring technology to market. He is co-author of IPTV & Internet Video, Second Edition (Focal Press/ NAB). He may be reached at howard@ go-associates.com.
shadow of media professionals. One more proof point from New York is Vine. Amidst many random industry developments “a real trend is short video sharing happening with services like Vine,” notes Ben Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies in Silicon Valley. There are many services with the premise of short-burst video sharing, and this “six plus second burst of video will scale and inevitably put increased pressure on the network provider infrastructure,” suggests Bajarin. Sound like Twitter? That’s because it is. Vine was acquired by Twitter last year even before it had launched its service. More than long-form video, this trend is likely to be a part of the mobile video experience taking place outside the house. Bajarin believes we’ll see more and more new over the top video services break onto the scene. It’s clear that people will be able to consume the same programming and more on their PCs, Smartphones, and tablets as they do on their TV. “A world like this,” says Bajarin, “has never existed, and it’s just around the corner.”
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