Qik has opened its beta program, letting anyone with a compatible cell phone broadcast their own videos on the Web. Qik (pronounced “quick”) opened its doors to all comers Monday, moving from the invitation-only alpha it began late last year to an open beta program.
The company also announced new features, distribution partners and supports more handsets. It now supports Symbian and Windows Mobile devices on GSM and CDMA networks. That covers multiple carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint. Support for the iPhone is promised for the future.
Opening the service for a public beta means users are no longer subject to approval from Qik staff — anyone can sign up and begin streaming immediately.
Qik software (FAQ), lets you stream video directly from a mobile handsets. Live videos can be utilized with Facebook and Twitter or embedded on a web page.
Qik’s new player lets users view video thumbnails and play them directly. They can also chat from within the player. The new Groups feature enables members to create groups and micro-communities to which they can stream their videos. With Events, users can create their own event, whether it’s a family cookout or a corporate function, and invite others to join the event.
Qik says latency has been reduced to between 1.5 and 3 seconds. Users can now subscribe to Qik from an RSS reader on their phone or Nokia’s podcasting application. When they subscribe to a favorite Qikker, users will receive feeds directly to their mobile phones and can play the videos directly from the readers.
The service is now linked to MySpace, Facebook and Orkut, the social networking service run by Google, so users are able to stream live video to their site. Broadcasters can chat directly with viewers on Facebook.
The cost of streaming content from a mobile phone is still an issue. It could cost users big bucks for data transfers.
“Consumers are already paying for the service when they stream video from their cell phone”, said Yankee Group’s Anton Denissov. “It will tax the networks because they aren’t built for this. They were built for voice, not these huge video files,” he said. As the networks become more congested, Denissov said he foresees an increase in fees, charges and limits from operators.
The biggest question may be how Qik will monetize its service. Advertising is one way, but online businesses have struggled to get viewers to watch ads, says TechNews World.
PC Magazine and Computerworld tested cellular modems for AT&T, Verizon and Sprint cellular networks.
3G Networks — Test Results
| AT&T | Sprint | Verizon | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak download speed | 1.6Mbit/sec. | 1.2Mbit/sec. | 1.3Mbit/sec. |
| Average download speed | 755Kbit/sec. | 494Kbit/sec. | 592Kbit/sec. |
| Average upload speed | 484Kbit/sec. | 294Kbit/sec. | 232Kbit/sec. |
| Connection time | 3.0 seconds | 3.7 seconds | 5.6 seconds |
| Time to load Web page | .228 seconds | .224 seconds | .230 seconds |
| Battery life lowered by | 40 minutes | 1 hour | 20 minutes |
But, if your carrier is feeding a cell tower with a single (1.5 Mbps) T-1 line, don’t expect 1.6 Mbps out of a cellular modem, as EVDO Forums and EVDO Info explain. “It’s not the device itself that affects speed as much as (1) the device’s signal to the cell tower; (2) the load on that tower; (3) the internet backhaul to that tower, or a combination of all or some of the above”.
Without a two-year contract, AT&T’s top DataConnect plan costs $80/month, while Sprint’s average upload speed was 294Kbit/sec with Verizon turning in similar speeds. All the cellular carriers now have a 5 GB cap.
Competitors include; PocketCaster from ComVu, BlogTV, Justin.tv, Kyte.tv, Mogulus, Seesmic, Ustream, Vimeo, Yahoo Live and Zannel.
I can’t wait for Mobile WiMAX. Dailywireless has more on Mobile Livecasting.
