CES 2011 Surprise: Skype Acquires Qik for Live Video Mobile Streaming

In a surprise move that further consolidates Skype's position as the leader of the live video calling market, Skype CEO Tony Bates confirmed that his company has agreed to acquire Qik, the popular live mobile streaming startup. The announcement was made today at CES 2011, and transaction is expected to close in January 2011. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but Silicon Alley Insider estimated the deal at about $100-150 million.

Skype made a number of other service improvements announcements,  including: partnerships with Sony, Vizio and Panasonic and to build Skype into its HDTVs and Blu-ray players, partnerships with Verizon and OnStar to bring video its services, a Skype kit of APIs to allow OEMs to build on the Skype platform, and group video calling for $8.99 a month allowing multi-party video chat up to 10 parties.

Just last week Skype made our dreams come true by bringing video chat to the iPhone, it continues to broaden its reach with each partnership; and the acquisition of Qik rounds out its portfolio, and removes a popular competitor in the mobile video space. Among the list of competitors includes Apple's FaceTime, along with Google voice and video chat, Fring, ooVoo, Bambuser and several other live video mobile apps. As I previously noted, mobile video has been considered one of the biggest trends that will explode in 2011, and with the percentage of Skype calls taking place over video growing, Skype has clearly become the dominant player in the two-way video calling market. Skype filed for its IPO in mid-2010 and is expected later this year.

Skype CEO Tony Bates announced that this was Skype's first acquisition in this CES press conference and part of its strategy for premium video services. He also recorded a short video message for Skype blog.

skype on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

In the company press release, Bates added:

“The Qik team has delivered exceptional video experiences for its mobile partners and millions of end users across a range of devices. Skype’s software enables an estimated 25 percent of the world’s international long distance voice calling minutes , and approximately 40 percent of those Skype-to-Skype calls are happening over video. Qik’s deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype.”

The two companies have have a common purpose, as the press release stated:

"...of enriching communications and sharing with video, across any device. The acquisition of Qik helps accelerate Skype’s leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to Skype’s product portfolio. Through this acquisition, Skype will also be able to leverage the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming™ technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks."

For more on Bates' CES 2011 announcement, see this post by Adrian Pennington:  Skype Adds Qik to Go Mobile Ahead of IPO - StreamingMedia.com. Also see these post by Sarah Reedy on why this deal matters: Light Reading Mobile - CES 2011: Skype Buys Up Qik for Mobile Push - Telecom News Analysis.

In this video, Qik Co-Founder and SVP of Product Bhaskar Roy shares an inside look at the Qik Story:

Vijay Tella, CEO of Qik said:

“Qik has worked very hard to solve complex problems that allow millions of people everyday to take advantage of sharing their lives with those people who are most important to them. Joining Skype allows Qik’s team to unite with Skype’s talented team to develop new and innovative products for our customers and partners.”

Qik was founded in 2006, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California with has an office in Moscow, Russia. The 60 employee company has built innovative solutions to capture and share video with anyone across mobile devices, the web, and desktop platforms. Videos can be recorded and streamed in real time or stored for later viewing. The popular Qik service is available to over 5 million users on over 200 mobile phones, including Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, and comes pre-loaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets through partnerships with leading handset manufacturers and mobile networks.

Qik recently released its Andoird streaming app Interesting to note, earlier today TechCrunch reported that Qik quitely raised $6.3 million from Quest Venture Partners and Almaz Capital Partners.

So how big is the live video calling market?

In a report on USA Today, Jon Swartz noted:

"An estimated 13.2 million people worldwide will make video calls this year — up fourfold from last year. Some 155.1 million will perform such calls in 2015, predicts market researcher In-Stat. Military families and people separated by time zones, in particular, are taking advantage of the technology. "It is more enveloping for long-distance relationships," says Frank Dickson, a mobile analyst at In-Stat. He estimates the market for mobile-based video calls will eclipse $1 billion by 2015."

I've written frequently about Qik over the last few years and in my first Qik post from December 2007, It Looks Like the Revolution Will Be Televised, I noted that this would be the next new killer app – live video streaming from mobile to web. Robert Scoble and Steve Garfield were both Qik early adopters, and at that time, lifecasting and video blogging was coming into its own, and live mobile broadcasting created endless lifecasting possibilities that went way beyond the Dick Tracy wrist phone. Your cell phone can become a live broadcast channel. Now that mobile has become the next wave of our video communications, there's no doubt that the video revolution will not only be televised, but it will be two-way live video channel called Skype.

About Skype
Skype is a communications platform provider whose purpose is to break down barriers to communication. With an Internet-connected device, families, friends and colleagues can get together for free with messaging, voice and video. At low cost, they can also call landlines or mobiles virtually anywhere in the world. Skype has recently introduced group video, allowing groups of more than two people to do things together whenever they’re apart. Skype was founded in 2003 and is based in Luxembourg. Skype can be downloaded onto computers, mobile phones and other connected devices for free at www.skype.com. You can get news and updates from Skype on its blog: blogs.skype.com Twitter: twitter.com/skype or Facebook: www.facebook.com/skype.

About Qik
Qik is a leader in the mobile video space enabling smart phone users around the world to capture special and spontaneous life moments from anywhere and instantly share those moments with friends, family and followers. Qik’s comprehensive solution meets all consumer video needs including video calling, video sharing, video messaging and the ability to sync and save videos to the web and desktop. Qik has headquarters in Redwood City, California and an office in Moscow, Russia.

See these related Klessblog posts for more on Qik:

• Qik joins Brightcove Alliance Bringing Mobile UGC Publishing to the Masses
• Qik Comes Quick with Live Streaming on iPhone
• Qik Highlights from the San Francisco Brightcove Alliance Meetup
• Comparing Qik and N95 Video Quality
• Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Demos Qik in Live National TV Broadcast
• Mogulus and Qik Partner in Live Streaming
• Live Mobile Broadcasting with Kyte, Qik and Flixwagon
• Streaming Media East: Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

Skype Makes Our Dreams Come True with Skype for iPhone 3.0, Video Chat Now Available!

After much waiting and anticipation, just like that – Skype for iPhone now comes with video. There had been rumors and sightings online about a possible release at CES next week, but Skype finally made our dreams come true with the release of Skype iPhone app. Skype has been no stranger to the news lately with an IPO next year and on the heels of its major outage – Skype "gave the people what they want," by enabling video chat chat capability across the Apple iDevice line, including the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and 4th generation iPod touch with i0S 4.0 or above. Like its previous iPhone apps, Skype for iPhone 3.0 is free.

Mobile video has been considered one of the biggest trends that will explode in 2011, and now Skype's impending dominance of the two-way video chat market is apparent. With its global and mainstream reach of approximately 25 million people signed into Skype at any given time, along with its recent integration with Facebook, Skype has become the biggest disruptor of the live video space. Ironically, among the list of competitors includes Apple's FaceTime, along with Google voice and video chat, Fring, ooVoo, Qik and other live video mobile apps.


Techcrunch's Leena Rao spoke with Rick Osterloh, VP of Consumer Products for Skype, who said that the company had been working on developing video capability in the app for some time and that Apple has been a "great partner" and that “mobile is going to be big for Skype."

 In Skype's press release today, Neil Stevens, general manager of Skype’s consumer business said:

"With video calling representing approximately 40% of all Skype-to-Skype minutes for the first six months of 2010, our users have been eager to get Skype video calling on their mobile phones. By bringing video to mainstream users at their home or work via their desktops, on the go with their mobiles, or into their living room via their TV, Skype has made it possible for millions of people to share video moments wherever they are.”

With this new software, users will be able to:

• Make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls over 3G and WiFi.*
• Share video calls on Skype with people on specified iPhones, PC or Mac.
• Talk face-to-face or show what you're seeing with front- and rear-facing cameras.

* Additional data charges may apply. Skype recommends a strong WiFi connection for video calling to get the best quality.

Check out this bizarre Skype ad introducing the new iPhone app. (Friendly warning: Don't watch this if you are creeped out by guys dancing around their underwear, as evidence of the the video thumbnail. It seems that the producers wanted to show that you can "share the moment, anywhere.)

The application works in both portrait and landscape mode, but the downside with the iPhone 3GS and iPad is that neither have a front-facing camera, which makes it less ideal for video chat – but you can receive video on the iPad and chat with a compatible headset and use the rear-facing camera on the iPhone 3GS. However, that may change if the iPad2 comes equipped with a camera. 

Your device will need to be running iOS 4.0 or above and that you are using Skype for iPhone 3.0 or above. The contacts you are calling must be using one of the following Skype clients:

• Skype for Windows version 4.2 and above
• Skype for Mac OS X version 2.8 and above
• Skype for iPhone 3.0 and above

There are many hands-on reviews of the the app on Engadget, GigaOm, 9 to 5 Mac, TMCnet and others, and the reports are that the video quality is clear but not as clear as FaceTime. 9 to 5 Mac estimated that video calls over 3G will use around 3.4 MB of data per minute.

Skype has been growing steadily with 560 million users and 8.1 million of those users pay an average of $96 a year for premium services. Skype generated $13 million in profit on net revenues of $406 million in the first half of 2010. Skype's Android app doesn't yet support video calling, but Skype may have more releases set for CES and ooVoo just released their Android version.

Related:

• Skype 3.0 for iPhone: New Dimensions in Smartphone Video Calling | Voice on the Web
• Skype for iOS Hands-On: A Solid FaceTime Competitor: Mobile Technology News «
• Skype for iPhone gets Video Chat. Works over 3G and with Computers (data usage: 3.4MB per min.) | 9 to 5 Mac Skype for iPhone gets Video Chat. Works over 3G and with Computers (data usage: 3.4MB per min.) | Apple Intelligence

About Skype
Skype is a communications platform provider whose purpose is to break down barriers to communication. With an Internet-connected device, families, friends and colleagues can get together for free with messaging, voice and video. At low cost, they can also call landlines or mobiles virtually anywhere in the world. Skype has recently introduced group video, allowing groups of more than two people to do things together whenever they're apart.

Founded in 2003 and based in Luxembourg. Skype can be downloaded onto computers, mobile phones and other connected devices for free at www.skype.com.

You can get news and updates from Skype on its blog: blogs.skype.com Twitter: twitter.com/skype or Facebook: www.facebook.com/skype.

Kyte Releases Kyte LivePro Unwired, Live Mobile Broadcasting Backpack

Online video, mobile and social platform Kyte has announced the upcoming release of a new product today called Kyte LivePro Unwired that enables high quality live video streaming from a battery-operated wireless backpack. The San Francisco-based company has teamed up with LiveU, makers of hand-held video uplink devices, to offer this as an add-on component to the Kyte Platform. The product is identical to the Livepack which was launched by Livestream last September also through a partnership with LiveU – aimed at replacing expensive satellite trucks with a mobile broadcast solution.

Kyte LivePro Unwired is a portable device small enough to fit into a backpack and includes six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems for redundancy over three carriers (AT&T, Verizon and Sprint) with data plans are that covered within the price. It allows you to go anywhere with a complete roaming camera setup with data rates at 700-1000 Kbps. Any video camera with a FireWire (IEEE 1394) output can be used and video can be live-streamed directly to any online Kyte Player and also available for on-demand online and mobile viewing.

In this video, Kyte CEO Daniel Graf demonstrates the new product to Techcrunch editor Erick Schonfeld. Kyte will be debuting Kyte LivePro Unwired at SXSW this weekend and in conjunction with the launch, SPIN Magazine will be using the technology for live coverage and behind the scenes from SXSW music. Graf says that most mobile video solutions can only acheive 200 Kbps and Kyte LivePro Unwired offers TV quailty with streams up to 1 Mbps.



In the press release Graf added:
“As we’ve seen with a number of recent news events, the cycle of reporting is getting smaller and the public is thirsty for footage from places that would be impossible or costly to access through traditional broadcast means. Kyte LivePro Unwired gives content producers an edge over the competition by making it easy and cost effective to broadcast high quality live video to online audiences."

Graf added that the product ideal for for brands, agencies and media companies.

No release of costs yet, but Livestream's similar offering has a month-to-month rental without commitment of $2,500 per month, and yearly rental is $1,500 per month plus shipping.

For more information about Kyte LivePro Unwired, go to: http://www.kyte.com/livepro
See the press release: Kyte First Online Video Platform to Enable Wireless High Quality Live Broadcasting | Business Wire

About Kyte
Kyte is the online, mobile and social video platform for live and on-demand content. The Kyte Platform enables media companies, brands and organizations to deeply engage audiences through 360 degree social video experiences. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with offices in New York, London, Hamburg and Zurich. Customers include ABC, Armani Exchange, Clear Channel, ESPN, Fox News, HomeAway, MTV, Monster Energy, NATO, NBA Digital, Nokia, Tyra Banks, and others

Buy Steve Garfield's New Book, 'Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building your Business'

Pioneer video blogger Steve Garfield has written a new book, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business, is a must-have for anyone involved in producing online video. It's the second book in the series of New Rules of Social Media Series created by David Meerman Scott, and and is now available from a variety of online book sellers. Get Seen presents a series of plans and tools businesses can follow to successfully communicate with and market to their customers on the social web.

Online video continues to explode and businesses now have the opportunity more than ever to promote their products and services and reach customers. It's become essential for businesses to incorporate social media marketing into their overall marketing plan, and video is one component that has become more crucial than ever. Also, with the development of affordable content creation tools and the solutions available from online video platforms, you don't need to be a high-end video producer to create and distribute professional-quality video.

What's in the book?

Steve says,

"In addition to everything I know about choosing a camera, lighting, sound, editing, hosting, conducting interviews, making videos without a camera and going live, I've included interviews with many successful online video creators. In the book I cover connecting with viewers, smart use of metadata, creating niche content, having passion for what you are doing, uploading everywhere, and understanding distribution and marketing."

In Get Seen, Steve Garfield offers a quick and complete toolkit to help businesses produce low-cost online video. If you're an online video marketer, small or medium-sized business owner, video producer or if you're just looking to get started producing video, then Get Seen is the resource you need.


From the Back Cover

"Use online video to Get Seen and drive your business to new heights. The new rules of social media are constantly changing. The world of online video is exploding. Hollywood is getting into the game, professional actors and writers are joining in, and independent producers are finding their niche. Now, companies are wide awake to the new opportunity that video presents for product and brand promotion, as well as long-term customer engagement."

"Are you paying attention? Are you getting your business seen?"

"Steve Garfield is hilariously awesome. He gave us timely advice when we started our videoblog, and now he's put that advice and more into this ridiculously thorough guide." — JIMMY FALLON, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

About Steve Garfield
A recognized video blogging expert, Garfield has been featured in Newsweek, Time, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and Boston Globe and on CNN, BBC, and BusinessWeek.com. He blogs regularly at Off on a Tangent, which has received over 1 million visitors, posts videos at Steve Garfield’s Video Blog, (http://SteveGarfield.blogs.com), and can be found on twitter at http://twitter.com/stevegarfield where he has over 18,000 followers.

Steve is the founder of Boston Media Makers and has helped the group to spread to other cities including New York and Washington, DC. He was chosen as the Boston correspondent for the pioneering video podcast, Rocketboom, and he also provides citizen journalism reports for CNN iReport, The Uptake, and techPresident. Steve lectures at Boston University, Northeastern and Emerson College.

Buy Get Seen

Apple iTunes listing for Get Seen

Subscribe to Steve's RSS feed

Related Klessblog posts:

• Steve Garfield on Getting Started in Web Video
• Steve Garfield on How to Make Your Videos "Spreadable"
• Streaming Media East: Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

Qik Live Streaming App is Now Available from the iPhone App Store

Just two weeks ago, Qik submitted their Qik Live app to the iPhone App store in hopes of finally getting the popular live mobile streaming application approved. Their wish came true just in time for the holidays when the app was finally approved and appeared in the App Store. Over the past few weeks, Apple has approved live video streaming apps on the iPhone in accordance to Apple’s screen capture API, with Knocking's Live mobile to mobile live video sharing application, Ustream's Live Broadcaster and Bambuser's iPhone app. Qik had been available on jailbroken iPhones for over a year, since but not as a legitimate iPhone app due to the structure of AT&T's terms of service which in fine print forbid live video streaming.

Then in July 2009, Apple launched HTTP Live Streaming standard in iPhone 3.0, which opened up the platform for streaming applications to iPhone or desktop computers, using an ordinary Web server. HTTP Live Streaming bundles RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) traffic into HTTP packets to get through most firewalls. Unlike progressive download, it streams live video by essentially breaking the overall stream into small HTTP-based file downloads, with alternate clips at various data rates to adjust to varying network bandwidth conditions. Earlier this month, Apple stated that HTTP Live Streaming is now required for for all applications which deliver streaming video. The current implementation supports H.264 Baseline Level 3.0 and AAC and MP3 stereo audio with data rates as low as 100 Kbps and as high as 1.6 Mbps to iPhone.

It was over two years ago that Qik first appeared as a private alpha in December 2007 and out

of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Visivo Communications. It became a popular live mobile streaming application for a growing list of 130+ supported handsets (including Android, iPhones (original, 3G, and 3GS - previously jailbroken only), BlackBerry, Nokia Symbian, many Windows Mobile devices, and J2ME devices. Qik launched into public beta on July 21, 2008 and now comes pre-loaded on the Nokia N97, Samsung Omnia II and other mobile devices. The new iPhone app, called Qik Live (version 4.40), works on all the iPhones (iPhone 2g, iPhone 3g, and iPhone 3gs) and on all networks (3G and WiFi) and is available from the App Store. Qik also just released a desktop app for live video sharing called, Qik-in-Touch, which is currently in private beta.

I conducted this "Qik" test of the new iPhone app on a iPhone 3G with a Nokia N95 using the newest version 1.0.25 of Qik in the following videos. While it's not a great testing environment, and may not be a fair comparison given the N95's Carl Zeiss lens and native video capability, I tried to match the subject matter and quality settings between the two devices. There is a significant difference in quality with the video frame rate and audio, with the Nokia handling both much better. There's a slight difference in color depth with the iPhone colors looking deeper. I listed the video profile below each video.

Nokia N95 video settings
Video codec: H.264, 320 x 240, Million
Audio: AAC, Mono, 44.100 kHz
Frames per second: 30 FPS 14.88 FPS (average)
Data rate: 333.45 kbits/s





iPhone 3G video settings
Video codec: H.264, 320 x 240, Million
Audio: AAC, Mono, 44.100 kHz
Frames per second: 3-12 FPS (average)
Data rate: 301.96 kbits/s

The iPhone frame rate is much lower and looks close to 3 frames per second. The audio has a narrowband quality and seems to be more compressed than the Nokia, and there's a considerable amount of latency between the audio and video, which causes a lip synch issue.

Now that Apple has opened up the floodgates to live streaming, expect to see a tremendous focus on mobile video applications over the next year. Both Qik and Ustream have already announced higher quality streams and recording capabilities, and continue to hone and integrate their products into other platforms as the currents of the live streaming grows stronger.

Follow Qik on Twitter

Friend Qik on Facebook

See my original Qik post from December 2007: It Looks Like the Revolution Will Be Televised

Livestream Launches Live Mobile HD Streaming with Livepack, Say Goodbye to Expensive Satellite Uplink Trucks

Today, Livestream launched Livepack, a totally wireless turn-key hardware solution for live mobile HD streaming. Through a partnership with LiveU, makers of hand-held video uplink devices, Livestream offers a unique bundled solution that combines a hardware device with their live streaming platform. This solution addresses the needs of video producers and video professionals who need to broadcast live anytime, from anywhere and on-the-go with video up to HD quality at 700-1000 kbps. 

Livepack is a portable device that fits into a backpack and includes six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems for redundancy over three carriers (AT&T, Verizon and Sprint) with data plans are that covered within the price. It allows you to go anywhere with a complete roaming camera setup and aimed to replace the expense of a traditional satellite uplink truck and satellite time. 

While live mobile streaming is not new with companies like Qik.com, Flixwagon and Bambuser having been on the market for a few years, according to Livestream CEO Max Haot, mobile phone streaming is not a viable option if you want to live stream an event. 

I spoke with Max yesterday and he pointed out that, 

"You're not going to stream a two hour event using a mobile phone due to the battery life, the quality of the lens, the zoom, but more importantly also the fact that's it's only one 3G network which is usually unreliable. So the other option that has been available to people needing to do wireless live streaming has been traditional broadcast satellite. This type of equipment is hugely expensive (up to $50,000 a day) and most live streaming events can't afford it. It's usually reserved for television."

Max added that if you're an event organizer and you want to live stream today you either have to make sure you have a wifi connection, laptop, camera or any sort of feed to encode reliably on the Internet using a platform such as theirs. But if you want to do it wirelessly where you don't have a connection available which is the case in most venues, or if you want to be on the move and create a roaming camera feed, there's been no solution out there at the quality you need to live stream something serious like an event. But now with their solution, Livepack is like having a satellite television truck in a backpack.

The technology was originally built by their partner LiveU really aimed to replace the satellite broadcast truck and the prime market was really broadcasters. LiveU has been building this technology for the last few years and have been selling it to NBC and others. So instead of bringing back an event feed from a truck they are bringing back the feed using a LiveU device. Max said that at Livestream they've paid attention to it and started to integrate it more and more over the last six to eight months. They actually announced the first relationship with LiveU at NAB in March and as both they and their joint customers used it more Livestream realized they needed to integrate it deeply into their service.

They way the service works is that Livestream bundles the hardware and service plan in either a monthly or annual rental fee. The Livepack device is easy to use and accepts a direct DV camera feed into the FireWire port. There's a touchscreen to control the box and three hours of battery life included or you can either have external batteries. Once you turn it on all you do is press the start button and it goes directly live into your Livestream channel. 

Max explained that their unique offering is possible through three real breakthroughs, 

"The first is the fact that it's fully integrated from one vendor including the CDN, the player and all the features of our (the Livestream) platform and the hardware. The second part is that instead of using a laptop at an event you now have a ruggedized piece of equipment with a touchscreen. There's really no moving parts, you can put it in a backpack which is pretty innovative instead of playing with laptops at an event. The third piece is the most important is the technology that we fully integrated with Live U which are six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems over three carriers which are included, activated and the data plans are covered within the price."

Max noted that with a combination of these modems and the technology it takes the video feed internally from the encoder and splits it over all the available bandwidth on the six modems, sends it directly to their cloud where they recompose the feed and integrate into the Livestream's platform. It's a great application for red carpets, backstage at concerts, sporting events, town hall meetings, ceremonies, transmitting from a moving car, and a variety of enterprise applications. Livepack was recently used for coverage of the MTV Video Music Awards, NY Fashion Week, Harry Potter movie premiere and Pixie Lott Live.

So say goodbye to those expensive satellite uplink costs because wireless live streaming at HD quality just got better.

For more info visit www.livestream.com/livepack

Availability and Pricing

Livestream Livepack is available in the U.S. for monthly or yearly rental directly from Livestream, and includes the hardware unit, custom designed backpack, dedicated IP address for the Livestream channel, all 3G/EVDO network charges, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month. Neither a DV camera nor tripod are included. Month-to-month rental without commitment is $2,500 per month plus the cost of shipping. Yearly rental is $1,500 per month plus the cost of shipping. To order Livepack, email: getlivepack@livestream.com

About Livestream
Livestream (formerly Mogulus) provides everything needed to easily webcast live, build an engaged audience and monetize these efforts. Founded in 2007, the company is based in New York and includes Gannett Co. as a minority shareholder and investor. Producers can use Livestream to create live, linear and on-demand Internet television to broadcast anywhere on the Web through a single embeddable player widget. The service comes in two flavors: Free (ad-supported) and Premium (ad-free, white-label, higher-quality). Unique features include the ability to mix multiple live cameras, overlay graphics, and desktop streaming with 3D effects.

Streaming Media East: Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

This video from Streaming Media East is moderated by pioneer video blogger Steve Garfield who opens the session talking about how he attended Late Night with Jimmy Fallon the evening before and got backstage for an exclusive interview with Jimmy, which he broadcast live on the internet with his Nokia 95 phone using Qik, the popular live mobile broadcasting platform. Steve has delivered this presentation at several Streaming Media conferences and it's always a treat since it's a mix of discussion and live demonstration. Over the years Steve has been experimenting with audio and video tools to increase the quality by using high fidelity microphones with cell phones and laptops. Steve teaches New Media Tools for Journalism at the Boston University, College of Communication Department of Journalism and recently authored, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business. He's joined by Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy and Max Haot CEO and Founder of Livestream, which had been formerly known as Mogulus until they recently rebranded, who also demonstrate their live streaming applications. Qik recently announced that Nokia's Ovi Store launches with Qik and Qik comes pre-loaded on the new Nokia N97. Livestream recently released a free desktop broadcasting application called Procaster, which is designed for use with its service which is easy-to-use and offers high quality video and production value with the ability to mix live camera and screen sharing in both 2D and 3D.

Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

Track B (B101) 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

While big media tests the waters of mobile broadcasting, many web video producers are already out there doing it live from the street with cell phones. Others are joining in and experimenting with two-way broadcasts via streaming video over cell phone networks and via Wi-Fi. Viewers can chat while the broadcast is going on and affect—and sometimes even direct—the content being produced. Steve Garfield will talk with other pioneers in the live mobile broadcasting space about their experiences at the forefront of this new technology for sharing their stories over the web.

Moderator:	Steve Garfield, Mobile Video Journalist, SteveGarfield.com
Panel:	Bhaskar Roy, Co-Founder, Qik.com Max Haot, Founder, CEO, Mogulus (now Livestream)

For more on live mobile broadcasting applications check out Robin Good's Mobile Live Video Streaming: Best Tools To Broadcast Yourself From Your Mobile Phone.

Ustream.tv on Non-Jailbroken iPhone! Ustream Gears Up to Stream Obama Inauguration on Soon-to-be Released iPhone App

Ustream has been working on an iPhone application to enable viewing of live streaming content from Ustream.tv to the 3G iPhone. MobileCrunch posted a video and a photo of the app last month and now the application is almost ready for prime time. Ustream worked closely with President-elect Obama throughout his campaign, and yesterday John Ham, Ustream Founder announced that with the new app you will be able to watch the historic Inauguration LIVE on Ustream with chat.

As Michael Arrington of Techcrunch says, "The world is changing before our eyes" since this would be the the first live streaming application available in the iPhone App store if and when it's approved by Apple. He had an exclusive demonstration of the soon-to-be released application by Ustream's John Ham featured in the video below.

If you’d like to try out the application before it officially launches, Techcrunch has a handful of invitations to give away. Just follow the directions below.

Instructions for preview:

1) Plug the iPhone into your computer
2) Wait for the iPhone info to appear in iTunes
3) click on the words “Serial Number” to cause it to change to “Identifier”
4) double-click the identifier number (the long string of characters) and then press cmd-C (Mac) or ctrl-C (Windows) to copy it
5) email that identifier to iphone@ustream.tv so we can build a custom version for that phone using the iPhone SDK.

Chris Pirillo who also uses Ustream for his daily live streams recorded this demo. He says,"I’m relatively pissed that TechCrunch got an exclusive scoop (and yes, it was exclusive) on the upcoming Ustream application for the iPhone, all things considered. Still, I’m happy to say that pretty soon you’ll be able to watch me - and any other person who uses Ustream - on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The app is very much real. Why would you want to watch? Think about it this way: it’s much more interactive than traditional television."


Watch Me Live on Your iPhone
Description: http://live.pirillo.com/ - Now you can watch me, and other live video feeds, no matter where you go! So long as you have a connection to the Internet, you can pull up our feed and participate vicariously with the community.


While Joost has an iPhone app that lets you watch their library of 46,000 videos it is limited to wi-fi network access and Ustream's application let you watch live stream anywhere is also limited to wi-fi. (See updated post)

Arrington followed up with this additional post, Ustream May Be First To Broadcast Video From Unhacked iPhone, which featured another demonstration of different Ustream application that lets users record and produce live mobile broadcasts from an iPhone. This is the first live streaming application to run on a non-jailbroken iPhone and is pending approval by Apple. Ustream is anticipating it will be approved and available in the iPhone app store soon. Both Qik and Flixwagon already have iPhone live streaming applications for jailbroken iPhones.

The Debut of Ustream Mobile? Ustream Mobile vs Qik on 3G (Video)

This news comes by way Greg Kumparak of MobileCrunch and features a demo of Ustream.tv beta mobile client competing with Qik in a side by side comparison of the two separate live streams from two Nokia N95s. The video was produced by wingerbb29 who gives thsi desctiption, "I test Ustream Mobile (beta) and Qik on 3G. Results = Ustream Mobile is live while Qik is extremely delayed."

Greg Kumparak says, "While details are still somewhat sparse, we’re hearing that Ustream.tv’s got at least one trick up their sleeve to make their offering stand out: drastically shorter delays in getting your live content onto viewer’s screen."

You can see for yourself in the video below.



Zach Epstein of Boy Genius Report says,"Under the presumption that the video above didn’t use any 3G/WiFi vs EDGE trickery, Ustream.tv is apparently working on a mobile streaming application with some pretty phenomenal efficiency. No, the world probably doesn’t need another mobile streaming app / service combo - the big three, Qik, Kyte, and FlixWagon , do a pretty good job of filling the need. Ustream.tv must have missed that memo however, because it is supposedly in the process of pushing its own solution out to market and from the looks of the demo video above, it might make a bit of a splash." - from Ustream.tv working on a Qik killer, maybe : Boy Genius Report

Greg Kumparak added that,"While no one’s really looking to share the secrets of their methods, we’re being told that Ustream.tv has shifted a good amount of the video transcoding process to the hardware, presumably for maximizing bandwidth and better utilizing free processor time on the handset." He also pointed out that Ustream mobile does not have chat support like Qik.

Robert Scoble who says he was Qik's first user is moving away from Qik and leaning more to Kyte for mobile broadcasting for several reasons which he stated in his comments on this related MobileCrunch post, Interview with Qik Co-Founder Bhaskar Roy: Competition, iPhone, and Android. He intimated that the chat room support in Qik is very poor compared to Ustream, Stickam, or Kyte.tv.

2008 has been a big year for live mobile broadcasting and the innovation and widespread use should continue into 2009. I've tried all the major live mobile broadcasting platforms and Qik is my personal favorite. Although with Ustream.tv's popularity its mobile client will be highly anticipated. More details should be coming soon.

You can also check out these other live mobile streaming applications from Stickam Mobile, Bambuser and MBIT.TV.

12seconds.tv Integrates with Qik and Flixwagon

In another mashup of microblogging and live streaming platforms Qik announced yesterday, Qik is the first live mobile video service to integrate with 12seconds!

"We're very happy today to announce that Qik is the first live mobile streaming service to integrate with popular micro-video site 12seconds (aka "video Twitter")."

Now Qikkers can stream their Qik videos directly to their 12second.tv accounts and the only catch is that the videos can only be 12 seconds each. I attempted it a few times and included one of the results with the original Qik video which is actually 19 seconds and the 12seconds.tv video. The video only took about two minutes to appear on 12seconds once it had started streaming live on Qik.com. Qik had already integrated with Twitter, Mogulus, YouTube , Pownce, Mobuzz.tv , Blogger, Seesmic and Tumblr.


Qik video


Qik Video on 12seconds.tv

Further integration of microblogging and lifestreaming networks like this is innovative. But I'm still debating on whether or not I'll keep it enabled in my Qik account. I know it's syndication but I'm mindful of the noise it can generate through the replication of the countless videos across the networks.

And in related live mobile broadcasting news...



Flixwagon and 12seconds have also announced a similar integration just one day before Qik on October 30th. While I didn't see an option to link my Flixwagon and 12seconds accounts in either service both blog posts stated that it would available this weekend in time for testing before the General Elections on Tuesday.

The 12second blog says, "Flixwagon is the amazing service that let’s you stream live video to the web from your mobile phone. It’s completely amazing technology and we’re excited to be working with Flixwagon. You can link your 12seconds account to your Flixwagon account and then the first twelve seconds of every Flixwagon session will go automatically to 12seconds!" - from Flixwagon integration, Current and Halloween! « the 12seconds.tv blog

Flixwagon blog says, "During the US Presidential Elections this Tuesday Nov 4, Flixwagon users will have the opportunity to share their election thoughts and experiences on Current TV by linking their Flixwagon account with a 12Seconds.tv account, and making 12-second-long videos. The Current TV network is known for its user participation model, variety of short-form content, and its Inconveniencing Truther Chairman Al Gore (the network is available in over 51 Million households and online, so that’s a lot of people who might see your Flixwagon videos…)." - Share Your Election Day Thoughts and Experiences on Current TV with Flixwagon and 12Seconds.com - The Flixwagon Blog

A few related blog posts:

• 12seconds.tv Partners with Qik and Flixwagon - ReadWriteWeb
• VatorNews - 12seconds.tv and mobile lifestreaming?

CrunchBase Information

12seconds.tv

Information provided by CrunchBase

CrunchBase Information

Qik

Information provided by CrunchBase

CrunchBase Information

Flixwagon

Information provided by CrunchBase

Qik Releases Alpha Client for Blackberry

Today Qik announced the alpha release of its the popular live mobile streaming client for Blackberry. Within less than a year Qik has broadened its platform across mobile devices since the first release for the Nokia N95.

Read the full press release here and the Qik blog post, Qik now live with alpha release client for BlackBerry by bhaskar » QIK.

Bhaskar Roy says, "One of the most frequent requests we've had from Qik fans has been for a BlackBerry client. Today we are really excited to announce our alpha release clients for the BlackBerry Pearl 8120, BlackBerry Pearl 8130, and BlackBerry Bold. BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 will follow soon."



"Initially, one of Qik's signature features will be absent from all BlackBerry models: the ability for viewers watching real-time videos to interact via instant messages. Qik tells us that the live chat feature is running into a "text and camera app issue." In Qik, the incoming instant message lays over the video, something that's not built in to the BlackBerry platform." - from Qik announces streaming video for BlackBerry | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Jason Kincaid says, "This brings Qik to a much broader platform, and also helps cement Qik’s lead in terms of device support well ahead of competitors Kyte and Flixwagon, neither of which support Blackberry. However, Qik will have another competitor on the Blackberry platform: today’s news comes hot on the heels (and may have been prompted by) the launch of Next2Friends, the first streaming video application that supported Blackberries." - from
Qik Finally Brings Its Live Video Streaming To Blackberry - TechCrunch

Earlier this month Qik also added alpha support on mass market J2ME phones "a.k.a feature phones, a.k.a non-smartphones a.k.a non-PDA phones" and you can see that video announcement below. Qik now comes pre-loaded on Nokia's new touchscreen device called the XpressMusic 5800.



MG Seigler says, "Of course, there are two hot devices that the service isn’t available on yet: The Apple iPhone and the G1 (T-Mobile’s Google Android-based phone). The G1 was just launched a few days ago, and only has some 60+ applications that users can download in the Android Market right now. More will come, and you can bet one of those will be Qik... The company’s parent, Visivo Communications raised a $3 million round back in April. Since then, Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have also invested in the company." - from Qik sweetens its mobile streaming video roster with BlackBerry support. iPhone coming soon » VentureBeat

What about the iPhone? Kevin Rose may be right because a few days ago Scoble visited Qiks headquarters and they loaded "a very early version of their iPhone streaming video app onto my iPhone" and he recorded this video. He said, "Note that this is NOT a jailbroken iPhone, but they needed to do some magic to build me an app that’ll only run on my iPhone. I don’t know when it’ll be submitted to Apple as an official application. But for now I’m having fun trying it out."


Bhaskar Roy clarifed that, "We are looking into this, but at present are not sure when and how this will happen." - from Qik on App Store - clarification by bhaskar » QIK

Visit Qik to download the Blackberry application.

Stickam Joins the Fun, Introduces Mobile Application

Last week Stickam joined the ranks of the live mobile streaming services like Qik, Flixwagon and Next2Friends with it's release of Stickam mobile. I had the opportunity to test it out on a Nokia N95 that is on loan to me from Nokia/WOM World. While I couldn't get a connection through my 3G carrier ATT Media Net I was able to connect at home through my Wi-fi and it worked flawlessly. It turned out to be one of those, "Oh, I'm broadcasting?" moments because I didn't know what to expect and it worked right away and really exceeded my expectations.

I included the archived video of the live stream that was recorded and available just minutes after I stopped streaming. While it's not that exciting of a video it does give you an idea of how easy it is to use and the quality. Stickam Mobile seems to be a very stable platform and I plan to use it more. If you have a Stickam account you might want to try it to.





Here's the announcement from the Stickam Blog:

Stickam Blog » Stickam Goes Mobile!
We’ve finally release the beta version of Stickam Mobile, which will be available for all Nokia Series 60 3rd Edition platform phones. Stickam Mobile has been tested on the Nokia N95 and Nokia N80 phones but it should work on any Nokia S60 phone.

Free yourself from the wired and often clunky bondage of computers and Go Live on Stickam from your own mobile phone anywhere!

We’ve finally release the beta version of Stickam Mobile, which will be available for all Nokia Series 60 3rd Edition platform phones. Stickam Mobile has been tested on the Nokia N95 and Nokia N80 phones but it should work on any Nokia S60 phone.

Installing the Stickam Mobile application to your Nokia phone is easy and only takes a few minutes. Just follow this link to get started: http://www.stickam.com/member/mobile/signup.do

About Stickam:
"Launched in February of 2006, Stickam.com emerged as the first social networking website that focuses on live video streaming, reaching over a million streams viewed each day. It features embedding and social profile features for your web pages, online auctions, company web sites and blogs. The Stickam’s multimedia player can be embedded onto any website and allows members to personalize their web pages with live stream, video, music, pictures and chat. Stickam site is a destination for exiting live streams and interaction with other members. Thousands of categorized live streams can be found on Stickam 24/7." - from Crunchbase

Related:

• Stickam Adds Mobile Video Streaming to Compete With Qik, Flixwagon - Mashable
• Stickam Takes the Show on the Road - AppScout
• Stickam - How to - Stickam Mobile
• Stickam Goes Mobile to Compete with Qik | Epicenter from Wired.com
• Stickam Mobile Enables Live Video Streaming On-the-Go!

Update: Added background information on Stickam.

Streaming Media West: Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

Steve Garfield led this fun session at Streaming Media West on live streaming from mobile phones and wi-fi networks. I caught up with Steve, Bhaskar Roy of Qik and Rainer Cvillink of Mogulus as they were getting ready and captured a few minutes of each of them on my Flip Video camera. While I recorded this video that I later edited and posted online -- which Steve called "old technology" -- they were streaming live!


Here's the official video produced by ScribeMedia.org:


Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

Track B: (B101) September, 23, 2008 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM

While big media tests the waters of mobile broadcasting, many web video producers are already out there doing it live from the street with cell phones. Others are joining in and experimenting with two-way broadcasts via streaming video over cell phone networks and via Wi-Fi, wherever they are. Viewers can chat while the broadcast is going on and affect and sometimes even direct the content being produced. Come to this session to hear Steve Garfield talk with other pioneers in the live broadcasting space about their experiences at the forefront of this new technology for sharing their stories over the web.

Presenters:

Steve Garfield, Mobile Video Journalist, SteveGarfield.com Bhaskar Roy, Co-Foudner, Qik.com Rainer Cvillink, Evangelist, Mogulus

Here are a few videos from both Bhaskar and Steve from different camera angles. Their videos were streamed live from their Nokia N95 mobile phones using Qik and then later uploaded to their Qik pages. You can see me in Bahskar's first video as I him if he signed up for the Streaming Media West Qik Event.







You can see more of their videos at the Qik Events Page at - http://qik.com/event/359/streaming-media-west/day/3
Download handout here - Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks