Video app development has rapidly expanded in recent years due in great part to the explosive sales of mobile tablets and smartphones. In fact, the desire for video apps has spread and apps are being created for set-top-boxes and other connected devices. Three companies are making some noise with their newly developed and successful video applications. Their main mission: reach more people, on more devices, more quickly. SyncTV is an online video streaming company backed by television manufacturers. It delivers a live and on-demand pay TV service to a connected device. Devices can include Macs, PCs, connected TVs, Blu-ray players, iPods, iPads, Android devices, Roku and Boxee boxes, and more. SyncTV has built the infrastructure to support as many Netflix-type channels as the market desires. They are a small company but have high output. Their automated workflow ingests and reformats content on the fly so it can be appropriately distributed to specified devices. SyncTVs initial purpose was to provide an option for TV watchers to get the content they desire while circumventing the traditional cable companies. An added benefit is that subscribers get access to their favorite shows wherever they are connected to the Internet, instead of just at their home. Users subscribe to only the channels they want from content providers. As long as users have a TV with an IP address, SyncTV will work. No cable or satellite connections are requiredjust TV when, where, and what you like. Brightcove is a B2B video app that is similar to YouTube but includes additional expertise and analytics. Brightcoves app VideoCloud has device detection so it can format content to the screen size of a device whether it is a PC, Mac, tablet, or smartphone. Brightcove is a total platform for developing, deploying, and operating mobile content apps. Businesses can design an entire website and place their videos, connected to Brightcove VideoCloud, on the site. Businesses outsource video hosting to Brightcove and embed videos on their own page while Brightcove provides the specialized engineering to get their customers content delivered to multiple devices. Brightcove has made its niche through providing this multi-platform service along with real-time analytics and data about clients videos. VideoCloud was designed and built from the perspective of a web developer and includes the App Cloud Workshop app, so video developers can use tools with which they are already familiar. Brightcoves VideoCloud has become a relied upon asset to businesses with an online presence. HBO GO is the mobile platform for HBO Premium and the baby of the HBO app family. The app is offered to all HBO subscribers at no extra cost. Released in April of 2011, the app was being used by only 10 percent of HBOs subscriber base. By the end of the month, 80 percent had begun using the app. HBO GO is accessible through mobile devices including laptops, iPads, iPhones, iPods, and Android devices, as well as Macs and PCs. HBO has huge brand recognition, premium content, and a large customer base, which is why offering a mobile app for their content was deemed a superior way to increase their bottom line. HBO makes it convenient for customers to watch what they want, when they want, and where they want. One challenge they faced was that content had to be suitable for a wide range of bandwidthlow-bandwidth to high-definition depending on the device on which the app was being used. By focusing on exceptional consumer experience and developing new platforms for delivering that experience, HBO has successfully built a video app that is attractive to new and existing users. With the advances in video technology, whats in store for the future? The motivations that drove the technologies we have today include providing content to as many devices as possible and to as many people as possible. It is likely that this theme will expand in the future. More devices, like game consoles and Blu-ray players, will continue to be added as platforms to deliver video apps. App stores created by TV manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, and Vizio will become more popular platforms for video apps. It is also likely that the success of video apps such as SyncTV and HBO GO may force changes in traditional cable and satellite TV distribution models.

1. Discuss the changes to consumer media viewing patterns from video app technology. Will television be outdated? Will the Internet be able to support this technology if adoption increases?