I'm speaking here specifically of the fast growing field of streaming live video from your handset, and the proliferation of Web 2.0 services that have raised a dump-truck of money (just before the current fiscal fun) and are now looking to get as many users as possible (users = page views = advertising revenue = a possibility of making a profit a few years down the line). So why am I a bit upset?
Because of the sheer volume of services and applications in this space, there isn't a huge amount of room for innovation in the core product. You switch on the application, you point the camera at what you want to see, you connect over Wi-Fi or 3g (and hope you have unlimited data) and your profile page on the web site shows the video.
This is how Qik does it. This is how Flixwagon does it. That's how Bambuser, StickAm, KyteTV and countless others do it - because it's the obvious way to do it. Yes there are some bonuses on each service that give a nice bullet point on why that site is better than all the others (upload already recorded videos, geo-tag your location, etc) but fundamentally the video streaming service has moved from experimental technology to an almost commodity-like service.
The services can't compete with each other on cost, given that these services are free to end users; they can't compete on quality of the finished product, compression technology for video is very much standard (besides, your coverage is a much bigger influence than any other factor); neither can they compete on being 'first to market' or being a unique product.
It all comes down to marketing, and that's where those press releases come in. The service that can capture the hearts and minds of users, that has the emotional attachment, is likely to have the easier route to success. That's why they make a lot of effort in getting 'names' to use their service, that's why companies were loaning out N95's preloaded with their software earlier this year to prominent bloggers, and I suspect that's why they seem to send out a lot of press releases and shout very loudly when the slightest tweak of code happens on their service.
So no more, I say. I'm drawing a line in the sand. That video streaming services work is in doubt. That they are all very similar is not in dispute. It's just that I've had enough of them. The space is crowded enough, the existing players feel like identikit companies, and new entrants are doing exactly the same as the originals. There's no difference.
Come along with something as new and as innovative as the basic concept was, and I'll be there with the news posts and the reviews. For now, I think that I'll be keeping a careful eye on the streamers, continue to use these tools in my day to day life when it makes sense, but I'm not going to look at the same product over and over again and come to the same conclusion.
[So, err... Ewan.... I guess this means that your review of Bambuser is off then?.... - Ed] [FX: Ewan clims into a Laundry Basket]
-- Ewan Spence, Oct 2008