Hype And Reality For Joost -- No, Joost Does Not Lead The Way With Web Video
from the i-can't-believe-what-I-just-read dept
The online video company Joost gets a ton of attention, but mainly for the fact that its two founders were the guys behind Kazaa and Skype -- and the fact that it's raised a lot of money. However, what amazed me this weekend was two separate media reports suggesting that Joost was some sort of huge success, when almost every other indication was that it had stumbled massively. First, there was Crain's New York suggesting that it was a huge deal that Joost had chosen to locate its US headquarters in New York rather than Silicon Valley, calling the company "a top online video company." Ok. Perhaps -- though it seems like a stretch. In the online video world, there's basically YouTube and then everyone else. However, the real kicker was Information Week, which bizarrely declares: "Joost is still a leader in high-quality video by any measure" under a headline declaring "Joost Leads The Way With Web Video."Well, first of all, Joost doesn't lead the way in web video because it still hasn't released a web version. Second, the claim of it leading "by any measure" seems hard to square up with nearly a dozen reports about Joost's prospects. In fact, about the only "measure" by which Joost may be leading the internet video space is in hype (or, possibly, bandwidth consumption). By nearly all other reports out there, Joost has been in serious trouble this year, with people not finding its limited content (and need for a download) all that compelling. In response, the company has ditched most of its ambitious plans to focus much more narrowly on a short-term strategy to help the company survive. The company has also had tremendous downtime and layoffs. Even Joost's own investors don't have much nice to say about the company. In other words, it's difficult to see how Information Week can declare in any way that Joost is somehow leading the market.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
the beta sucked
i had hopes for it in the closed beta when they were the venice project, but the product never worked (direct x rendering for video, are you guys serious?) for me.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
the real deal
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Doubt
And the best part is that on some videos you can choose to watch in HD(480p or whatever).
I used joost until my machine was to slow to run the client.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: the real deal
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
I'm not *complaining* about Joost. I'm complaining about false claims that somehow Joost is a "leader" in the field.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Meh
So, it's a decent idea implemented in an OK way but it seems to have been overshadowed on the US market. A web client with more content available would be a great way to overcome these problems, but of course the content isn't necessarily their decision.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Joost over time
I tried joost, and I tried to love it! But alas, it was just never really what I wanted for video.
I do love their website graphics though!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Another bad comment
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Simple Math
P2P is for free stuff, not a means of offsetting distribution cost on the backs of 3rd parties.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: the real deal
Looked it up and it says HULU is:
"Slang in South Africa for large piles of Elephant Excrement / Feces.
Example:
I can't beleive your wife found out you did that your in some major "Hulu"
Sounds like this HULU is a delicious cake!
[ link to this | view in thread ]