Mobile Video Revolution?

The Internet has been all a buzz about the latest crazy to hit users, mobile video chat. Sites such as Seesmic, Qik and Flixwagon all offer the user the ability to make and post their videos out to the world in a quick, easy yet personable way that we haven’t seen before. Qik and Flixwagon uniquely offer a mobile user posting and sharing live video feeds from virtually anywhere. Seesmic will also jump into the fray here with its anticipated S60 client, as demonstrated by creator Loic Le Meur. Do these services offer any real value to the users or are they just the latest fad?

There’s no arguing that video is a popular commodity on the Internet, case in point YouTube. Now that high speed Internet has seemingly reached a critical mass in availability both in homes and increasingly on the go with camera phones such offerings are only going to grow. For years the higher end mobile devices have been equipped with two cameras, one high resolution and one basic VGA forward facing camera. Carriers in Europe and Asia have long been offering video calling with only limited success. AT&T in the US started offering one-way video calling with its 3G network, also with a lukewarm reception. These two services might seem very distinct and separate but I foresee each driving the other.

Mobile video calling is mobile video chat/streaming only with a much wider audience. People have become accustom to not being able to see the person they are talking to whether on the phone or the Internet. Video chat online is not new, however I don't many people don't use it regularly. Until recently it would be a safe bet to say the average user considered online video cumbersome and sometimes difficult to even setup. Likewise video conferencing is not a new tool in the business world but also never quite caught on at home. Years ago many telephone companies offered landline phones with a small video camera. These phones were bulky and expensive especially for the poor quality of the video, not to mention long distance calling was a lot more expensive compared to today’s rates making it prohibitively expensive.

What do you think? Can these mobile video sites drive video calling beyond a luxury into the hands of everyday consumers and in turn drive even more mobile video?

Comments

[James Burland]

I've been giving this theme a lot of thought over the last couple of months... I just don't know if mobile video will ever be as popular as mobile still photograpy - don't get me wrong, I'd love it if every N95 owner became the next Scoble (well, perhaps not exactly like Scoble!), but I don't see it happening. Still, I think that perhaps an increasingly large subset of smartphone owners will give a go!