From the viewpoint of video communication, two of the most interesting startups at the just-ended TechCrunch Disrupt conference didn't present on stage. Rather, they had displays in the "Startup Alley" area that attendees passed through on the way to the presentation hall. Significantly, both involved non-real-time video communication. Both also worked through Web browsers, Web cams and e-mail rather than through specialized software or equipment. As such, they highlighted one of the most prominent trends in video communication: the push for simplicity, ease of use, flexibility and breadth of availability.
One of the startups, Ovia (actually, a service provided by Inovaz, which has offices in the Mexico and the U.K.), claims to make it possible to "interview anyone, anywhere, anytime." In the most obvious real-world application, that essentially means corporate executives looking to recruit new employees can record interview questions on video. Job candidates then view the questions online, and record their answers on video as well. Both ends use Web cam and browsers. The process saves time compared to real-time video interviews, and also helps get around time-zone issues. It is particularly useful for screening large numbers of candidates in widely spread locations.
The process is fairly straightforward. After recording the questions, the exec e-mails invitations to the candidates. When they are ready to respond, the candidates click on the link in the invitation, which takes them to the interview page. (It is also possible to allow candidates to invite themselves, via a link posted on the corporation's Website.) They start by answering a test question, to verify that their camera and computer setup are working properly. Once the interview starts, they have 10 seconds to prepare their answer to each question, after which they record their response into the Web cam. The execs can view the responses at any time in any order, and even share them with colleagues to compare impressions.
The other startup, mailVU, is a video e-mail service. It provides a simple way for individuals to e-mail video messages to one another. All they need do is go to the mailVU Website, click to record their message through their Web cam, and enter e-mail addresses to send it to. As with Ovia, recipients click a link in the e-mail to view the message. The video recording itself remains on the mailVU server, so no large files are being emailed. Senders can set the messages to delete after a certain time period or number of views. The default is 30 days.
Similar services are available through other video communication providers, including ooVoo, Skype and TokBox. All of those companies, however, offer e-mailed messages as an adjunct to real-time consumer/SMB video conferencing services. MailVU currently offers only the e-mail approach. The different canceling options and one-click approach make it somewhat more convenient than other offerings, although there is no reason the competition couldn’t add such capabilities with little difficulty. Either way, the simplicity of the service will make it attractive to some users.
Incidentally, one company that presented onstage at the conference did use real-time video. GameCrush has a simple proposition: It lets men pay real money (60 cents per minute) to play Web and console games online with women (who are dubbed "PlayDates," and who receive a cut of the payments from their play). To boost the appeal, players and PlayDates can see each other onscreen via Web cams. GameCrush was a finalist in the battle for the event's $50,000 prize. And although it didn't win, it clearly stood out.
Whatever the merits of the business model, the service at least demonstrates one of the major forces that will drive both video and VoIP communication in the future: the tendency for such communication methods to be merely an adjunct to more complex services with which they are integrated. As such, the voice and video services will not directly generate revenues themselves, but will rather be subsidized by the more lucrative services of which they are a perhaps small but certainly important part.
Thanks for the mention Robert. Due to user requests at TC Disrupt, mailVU is now offering an embedded version of the free video mail service for any website. Just video mail, or email, support@mailVU.com and provide the URL of the site where it will be used, and we'll email the HTML code.
Alan Fitzpatrick
co-founder
mailVU.com
Posted by: Alan Fitzpatrick | 10/01/2010 at 12:23 PM