Qik is a service built on the premise of being able to stream videos from your mobile device to the web as they’re happening live. But many videos that get streamed are short (1 to 2 minute average), and if you’re sending them out over a service like Twitter, their APIs can be slow. This is obviously a problem. So Qik came up with a faster solution.
Their answer is Qik-in-Touch, a new desktop application that runs on Adobe Air. Once you start this app, it resides in the background until one of your Qik contacts starts recording a live video. When that happens, Qik-in-Touch pops up on your screen to show you the video as it’s happening live. It’s a much more direct, and more importantly, faster way of connecting you with live Qik videos.
The application, which is launching today in private beta, also allows you to easily favorite videos, browse your own videos, and watch other live videos happening around the web with QikTV. And this app requires no new mobile software of any kind — it will work with all the existing mobile clients just as they are. The only difference will be in your viewing experience, through the Air app rather than the website.
Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy also made it clear that Qik-in-Touch is part of the service’s strategy to make it easier for mainstream users to utilize Qik. He notes that thanks to many of the deals they have struck with mobile companies to pre-load Qik onto phones, there are seeing more of these types of users. And he notes that they often share differently then the early adopter crowd. Whereas the early adopters were all about sharing their videos with as many people as possible, the mainstream users care more about just sharing with a small group of family or friends.
I also asked Roy about the Qik iPhone app, and he confirmed that they have submitted it to the App Store, and now they’re just waiting to see if it gets approved. Seeing as Ustream’s similar app was just approved, he anticipates that there will be no issues with their’s.
If you’d like access to Qik-in-Touch you can use this link special to TechCrunch readers.