What happens when mobiles enter the YouTube era?

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 28 October 2008 12:04

Opinion and Analysis

The rise of YouTube enabling anyone with a broadband connected and a video camera to create and share videos with the world has been astonishing. So imagine a world where millions of people with mobile phones can do exactly the same thing - live.

There are at least three such web sites in operation today: Qik , Kyte   and Flixwagon . As I write, Qik is boasting that it has 515 "Qikkers" online from 62 countries, there are 36 live Qik videos running and that 187 "Qiks" (videos) have been added in the past hour. The current one is from the Maldives!

All operate by supplying downloadable applications for installation on your cellphone. Qik claims to support around 170 phones including most S60 based devices, a handful of Windows Mobile units and, just announced this week support for  a clutch of the new BlackBerries. (Apps are also available for all three services for the iPhone but not from the Apple Store, so you'll need a 'jailbroken' iPhone).

Of course the big barrier to Qik and its competitors growing at present is the high cost of data traffic to and from mobile devices (Qik suggests: "it is also advisable to have an unlimited data plan as video streaming can consume a considerable amount of bandwidth." Don't you just wish!).

That barrier will progressively reduce and I have no doubt that Qik and/or Kyte and/or Flixwagon will one day exhibit similar phenomenal growth to YouTube.

We all know the statistics: there are many more mobile phones in the world than PCs; increasing mobile devices are becoming the preferred means of Internet access; they have a much shorter life cycle than PCs so a large population that will support new applications is likely to grow relatively quickly.

But most compelling of all is the immediacy that these services offer. There is, after all very little video content that you can create in front of your own PC - unless you want to put on a song and dance act, or other performance. Anything else must first be captured and uploaded.
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