Making Sense Of Online Video
If you are like me, you are coming out of CES with online video confusion.
Who is doing what with whom and how?
Tristan Louis has done us all a favor by putting it all down on paper (actually on the web) and outlining the details of each of the major online platforms’ video strategy.
I particularly like this table:
| Apple | AOL | Microsoft | Yahoo! | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allows use on iPod | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Allows use on PSP | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Allow use on Windows-Media devices | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Allows use on Nokia phones | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Allows use on Treo | No | No | No | Limited (Treo 700w) | No |
As you can see from this table, nobody is offering anything close to ubiquitous distribution across consumption devices. As I look at this table, I kind of like where Yahoo! sits. They seem to be taking the most practical approach, devoid of proprietary interests like iTunes or Windows Media Player. Google seems to be relying on flash (at least according to Tristan), and that seems great for the web but lousy for everywhere else.
In any case, it will be interesting to watch all of this play out. In the meantime, I am going to work on getting my Tivo and DVD burner to produce unlocked content that I can put anywhere I want. In the near term anyway, that seems like the best approach to me.