December 17, 2007

Qik streams live video from cell to Web

Mike Butcher

17 comments »

Robert Scoble has gone wild for a new video streaming service for cellphones called Qik. It vaguely competes with Kyte, Seesmic and Ustream, but is perhaps closest to Kyte. Qik enables live video casting from a cell phone via any 3G/GPRS/Wi-fi Internet connection. Developed by Visivo Communications in Santa Clara, Qik has been in testing since November. Unlike sites where you have to wait for the video to be uploaded, Qik cleverly streams the video straight into the site with a 5 second delay. To use it you download and install the client software onto a Nokia S60 cell (and you’ll need an unlimited data plan). Click on the icon on the phone and then start streaming video. Once finished, the live stream turns into a recorded video. You can also send “Qiks” to Twitter by entering your Twitter user details on the Qik site. Qik worked fine for Scoble, but I tried it from London and have yet to get the confirmation SMS delivered to me to allow me to use it. But it’s an intriguing service which may well give Justin.TV some competition, as Scoble notes in this Qik video.
[More on a similar UK startup on TechCrunch UK]

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Comments

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  1. Mac

    You Techcrunch guys have major apostrophe issues. “Qik’s” does not need an apostrophe to make it plural. Do us a favor and pass this along to Duncan too, because he doesn’t get it either.

  2. Mac

    I will give you partial credit for correct usage of “it’s” though.

  3. Kevin Anders

    I’ll be interested in this when it isn’t just a Nokia phone.

  4. Roy

    Mac, you need to calm down and just sing along with Strongbad:

    Iiiiif it’s gunna be possessive, it’s just I-T-S
    But if it’s supposed to be a contraction, it’s I-T-APOSTROPHE-S…
    Scalliwag!

    But it is important to note that most “unlimited” data plans are far from just that. For example, when I had one with Verizon, if you passed an arbitrary threshold in a month, you’d get hit with crazy fees and they’d shut down your service. You couldn’t easily find the limit, or appeal the fees or shutdown.

    I doubt any service providers have gotten any less deceitful since then.

  5. Måns

    The swedish company Bambuser has been around for almost half a year, much better quality also. Works on some Motorola and Samsung models as Nokia and Sony Ericsson

    bambuser.com…

    _Måns

  6. Jamie Ginsberg

    With full disclosure, I work for Comet Technologies, where we have been streaming live from Windows Mobile phones for nearly 2 years. We are completing Beta testing for people rather than our enterprise customers at http://www.cometnow.com. Currently we are streaming live from Windows Mobile phones such as the BlackJack, Motorola Q, Palm 700 & 750, HTC 6800 (Sprint Mogul or Verizon VX 6800).
    Our software has 2 features beyond simply streaming that blows me away. First is the text messaging system from the website to the mobile shooter. The messages are instantaneous and really makes the world a lot smaller. Second is that we are a one to many solution. You can open our software on your phone and view other people streaming or broadcast yourself to other phones and the web. Yeah yeah,, we archive your files also and will even auto upload them to You Tube or Myspace….
    There is something amazing about seeing video live as it happens. People forget that most TV and Radio they here is on a 2 -10 second delay. We are generally a 1-3 second delay!.
    Sorry for the shameless pitch…but if you have a compatible phone, you should give us a try, you will be amazed! Feel free to email me if you have any feedback jamie@cometview.com

  7. dotw

    Competition for Justin.TV? I didn’t realize their was a business there?

  8. Bhaskar Roy

    As you can imagine we have received an overwhelming number of requests for invitation to the Alpha release of Qik. Thank you! We are working through these requests and will be in touch soon.

    We are also working towards supporting other device platforms. If you’re interested in participating in an early release of Qik for these platforms - send us an email at support@qik.com along with the type of device that you are interested in.

  9. Faisal

    Looks very interesting.

    Registered and can’t wait to get conformation and start using it!

  10. Ballmer

    MS does this better with MSCellWebber 1.01a!

    fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

  11. AnonTroll

    Due to the lack of a dominant OS and compatible app on all cell phones for video, I predict this to be a lackluster idea just like all the other mobile apps. Say what you want about Microsoft Windows, it’s dominance has allowed the proliferation of many apps for users. Forget about cel phones, this is and continues to be the biggest problem with the different Linux distros. Even a software guy like myself can get easily turned off by the complexity of installing something on Linux, let alone your average user.

  12. CAR

    cool idea, hopefully executed right. Mac- you need to chill. we’re not all english professors.

  13. David Novakovic

    @11 . AnonTroll : Yeah because “apt-get install firefox” is hard than having to browse to a website download an installer and click through a bunch of dialogs. :)

  14. Ashtam

    Oh, My GOD!! I experienced This qik thing and believe me its fantastic experience!! Guys, expand it quickly now.