Mobile music via the iPod ... check.
Smart phones via the iPhone ... check.
Tablets via the iPad ... check.
And now, mobile HD video capture and playback. Welcome to the world of the iPhone 4.
Yes, others have done it before (they usually do). But, in the immortal lyrics of Carly Simon, "Nobody Does it Better." Apple is the game-changer. And, Apple is changing the game both with mobile video capture and live mobile video via FaceTime; my post is about the former.
If you think we have lots of UGC video around us now, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Even before the iPhone 4 launched in June, 34% of mobile phone users in the U.S. used their "phones" for video capture -- nearly double the 19% number from the year before! And, YouTube just announced that over 100 million videos per day (yes, day!) are played back on mobile phones.
And, now Apple comes along with mobile HD video capture. Now, the "all in one" smart phone that you carry with you at all times is there for "point and shoot" spontaneously, anytime, anywhere. Just think of the volume! The growth of consumer video capture will hockey stick exponentially (yes, "hockey stick" is intended to be a verb here) -- not linearly. Make no mistake -- easy-to-use HD mobile video capture represents a paradigm shift. This is huge. I rarely say this -- but, this is an absolute certainty.
This presents a huge problem for consumers -- and huge opportunity for those in the mobile eco-system to problem solve -- i.e., the absolute need to auto upload those HD videos into the cloud for private (PRIVATE is critical here) archiving, management and sharing (and sharing on all platforms, including in the living room and on the big screen). Without that kind of private solution, consumers will be simply overwhelmed the cacophony of videos. (Note the emphasis of "private" here -- YouTube is not enough -- consumers will not want the majority of their videos publicly viewable by the whole world.)
I am pleased to report that we at my company, Sorenson Media, already have solved that problem as part of our Sorenson 360 video platform -- direct mobile video publishing, management, sharing, with the highest quality (our hallmark) in the Cloud. More on this need -- and our solution -- in my next post.
Stay tuned -- and don't be afraid to capture video from your handset -- your solution is here and now.
