Consumers no longer need to plan to shoot what I call "personal video" (of their families, friends) and dust off their old non-pocket sized camcorder; now, all of us have our "camcorders" with us at all times in a mobile form factor (like the iPhone). That means that planning is no longer needed -- we can shoot HD video anytime, anywhere -- either at a planned event (like my son Luca's Little League games) or simply "on the fly", serendipitously. THAT's the power of our new HD mobile video capture reality. This mobile "anytime, anywhere" video capture reality truly is transformative and revolutionary -- and that is why the sheer number of consumer personal videos is exploding.
That's the promise.
But, here's the reality. Yes, we can easily capture HD video anytime, anywhere. But, then what do we do those personal videos? How do we easily and immediately get them "off" our smart phones and into the Cloud without connecting them to our Macs/PCs? How can we privately and securely archive and manage our growing and confusing inventory of personal videos? And, how do we privately and securely share those personal videos with our friends and families? This last question is a critical one -- remember, these are our personal video memories -- we have no desire to share our kid's hoops video with the world on YouTube!
The simple answer is that right now -- perhaps shockingly -- there is no easy, seamless, end-to-end way to do any of that -- especially if the goal is to preserve that personal video's HD quality. Instead, there are "bits and pieces" approaches. As an example, the iPhone 4 (which enables HD video capture) offers the option to share a video via email or MMS. Sounds promising, right? Well, not so much. Both of those options significantly degrade and "dumb down" that video, thereby making it a distant cousin to its HD origins. MMS, for example, still only supports 3GPP video (176 x 144 at 10 frames/second). That means that the iPhone's HD promise is essentially thrown out the window. The iPhone 4 also gives no full seamless private and secure management, archiving and sharing solution a la still photo and video sharing leader Shutterfly.
Now, imagine instead if consumers were given -- out of the box -- a seamlessly integrated easy-to-use and secure Cloud-based private video archiving, management and sharing service (that includes direct wireless upload to the Cloud)? This is what I call the secure high quality personal video "Store & Share" opportunity. Take your average smart phone. Handset manufacturers and carriers -- yes, you are offering HD video capture and you see how critical it is fasts becoming to consumers (just like still photos before it). Why not offer your customers this kind of service out of the box yourselves? Why not own and control that customer experience to increase your NPS (net promoter scores)? Why not own and cement that customer relationship? (Remember, once consumers begin to invest in a service by building their video library, switching costs become significant and lock-in is achieved -- with all of its concomitant benefits). Why not monetize that opportunity yourself via possible new revenue streams?
In other words, why not do this now yourselves before others -- like Google or Apple -- once again co-opt these opportunities from you (as they already have significantly done with VoIP and video calling -- read TechCrunch's recent excellent and insightful post on this subject by clicking on this link). History repeats itself for the unwary -- and, believe me, those and other 800 pound gorillas are all over this consumer personal video archiving, management and sharing opportunity (and recognize how massive it will be).
In other words, why not save face (i.e., empower your customers to easily archive, manage and securely share their personal videos via your own branded personal video "Store & Share" service)? Why not come to the rescue to consumers and solve this fast-growing pain point right now? Don't let Steve and Sergei be the white knights -- service providers, operators, and CE companies -- this is your chance!
"How do we do that?", you ask?
Here's an idea -- we at Sorenson Media can help. We already partner with Shutterfly to power their innovative industry-leading high quality and easy-to-use video service. We already have all the pieces to provide a similar white-labeled (i.e., your brand) service that comes as standard equipment (i.e., is seamlessly married) with your smart phones/hardware. And, this same logic applies to any and all consumer electronic devices that capture video -- all should absolutely offer a seamless private and secure video archiving, management and sharing service out of the box. The benefits are myriad as indicated above -- higher NPS/customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth; more use of -- and dependence on -- your hardware (which means more purchases and word-of-mouth); more customer lock-in (which means more ongoing customer engagement on all fronts, including marketing); and more revenues and monetization opportunities (including the ability to charge for a super-charged feature-enhanced subscription service, as well as impulse a la carte purchases).
And, remember this -- and this is absolutely key -- personal video "Store & Share" can be marketed more effectively than perhaps any other feature because it deals with fundamental human emotions -- i.e., your family, your friends -- and preserving and sharing those memories. Apple, among others, already focuses on the power of personal video to sell more product. Look at their iPhone 4 ads -- live video FaceTime is one of the central marketing messages. And, surprise surprise -- babies with moms are featured in those ads! That's the unique emotional power of personal video -- much more powerful in terms of marketing than premium movie and TV content.
So, we're here to help. That's what we do.
Just like I predicted years ago that live mobile video capture would be a massive opportunity, this secure personal video "Store and Share" opportunity will be big, big, big ... Nothing, I mean NOTHING, is as meaningful as archiving and sharing the memories and moments in time of your friends and loved ones.
