Video streaming from your phone QIK-ly, as in: instantly

Is instant video streaming from your phone quick enough for you. Or should I say QIK enough? QIK is a small application for various Nokia phones that lets you use the phone's camera and data connection to immediately stream content to the web. Robert Scoble gave it a try with his Nokia N95, and while I wouldn't advise recording a video while driving a car like Robert does, QIK looks to work as advertised.

Your videos are viewable immediately as a live feed, although there is a few second delay and they're also recorded for later viewing. There appears to be some integration with social networking services like Twitter, Facebook and more, but I'm not yet sure how these work together. Looks like I'll be digging up the loaner Nokia N80 to see how this all works. Is this the next step in "citizen journalism"? Can you see a group of QIK-enabled roving reporters that broadcast news content as it happens or is all this instant gratification starting to creep you out? By the way, you don't need a high-end phone like the N95. The supported device list has a wide range of compatible Nokia phones.

Comments

[Rodfather]

comvu.com has been able to do live video streaming and recording for a while now with its PocketCaster software for both Windows Mobile and Symbian phones. If you have a GPS on your device, the viewers can track your position too.

[Alan A. Reiter]

Hi Kevin,

This will be an extremely important trend. Robert Scoble mentioned it recently on a panel, but his comment was basically ignored.

This is big stuff: The ability of almost anyone to transmit live videos from a cellular phone.

I called this "serendipitous broadcasting" and wrote a column about it on "Internet Evolution":

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=137940

This has significant ramifications, not just for "benign" citizen journalism but also for security and privacy.

[Adolfo]

Total sweetness. When are they making one for my iPhone?
This definitely could have come in handy last weekend at a graduation.

I agree with Scoble "Justin.tv watch out"... This should definitely increase the user-generated content space.
I wonder if you could cross post to YouTube, MySpace or other social nets.

5-mins of fame here I come!