 "Orb Aims to Beat YouTube at Wireless Video")
Privately held Orb Networks plans to offer Web videos from YouTube.com on mobile phones with a new software launch this week, well before the wildly popular Web site makes its own cell phone service available. More than 400,000 people have already downloaded Orb’s previous software program that allows them to view their own digital media stored on a home computer, like photos, videos and music, on a mobile phone or wireless device.
This week, Orb will offer users a program that lets them view, search and create media channels from the Internet and direct it onto cell phones and laptops from sites like YouTube or Google Video. The technology could put Orb, a company of 35 employees based in Silicon Valley, ahead in a burgeoning market for mobile entertainment. YouTube itself aims to offer a wireless version of its video sharing site next year. “Everything you can play on your own computer can go anywhere,” Orb founder Joe Costello said in a phone interview this week. Adding YouTube to the service ‘required small tweaks’, he said.
The success and relative ease of rival Sling Media Inc., whose Slingbox set-top device lets users transfer TV shows and movies directly from cable boxes to laptops and cell phones, had initially eclipsed Orb’s service. Orb’s new programs can also only be used on advanced smartphones like Motorola’s Q model or Nokia’s N80 phone, and won’t work for a wider audience of users with less sophisticated phones. Google last month agreed to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion, hoping to harness the tremendous growth of online video sharing for Internet advertising. YouTube is also reportedly holding talks with Verizon to make its videos available on cell phones and TV. YouTube declined comment.
ORB THISOrb’s free home PC software, which is required to operate the service, lets users configure what types of media files on a PC’s hard drive will be accessible on wireless devices. Users who come across a video on Web sites such as YouTube can click on a button dubbed “Orb This” installed on their Web browser. That choice will transfer the link to the Orb Web menu and make it available for viewing on phones. The software makes use of RSS feeds, or “Really Simple Syndication” links, provided free by YouTube and others to allow viewers to link directly to specific video categories, such as the day’s most popular items. Some analysts were skeptical that Web videos would easily find a large audience on the tiny screens of cell phones. “The real question is: you have already seen these videos, why would you want to see them on your phone?” said Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research. Orb sees a future linking up with cellular service providers, who could use its software to let subscribers access the music and video they already own rather than asking them to pay again for the same content.
The company, which has a deal with Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc, expects to announce two wireless carrier deals this week, but would not give details. “It’s the iPod effect,” Costello said, referring to the early success of Apple Computer’s iPod music player, which lets users download music they already own as well as purchase new songs online.