Web Video Discovery Goes Mobile: Sony Ericsson Customers To Have Access To Over 150 Million Web Videos On Their Mobile Phones

Jason Ankeny — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:03:10 -0400

Veveo Inc., a driving force behind the video-anywhere
revolution and the vtap service, today launches an extraordinary
new web video experience for Sony Ericsson mobile phone users. Through
Sony Ericsson's video enabled handsets and web portal, customers
will be able to watch over 150 million web videos via vtap, a unique
mobile web video service. vtap allows users to quickly and easily
search, view and collect relevant and high quality web videos from
anywhere on the Internet, including popular sites like YouTube,
DailyMotion, and MySpace, using their existing data services.

The popularity of web videos has exploded in recent years but
users have had difficulty in searching and accessing them on the move.
vtap's unique incremental search allows users to begin receiving
search results instantly, the moment they type the first character.
The results are then refined as more characters are entered, allowing
users to quickly find what they want without entering full keywords or
phrases from constrained keypads.

vtap's intuitive browsing automatically groups video results
together logically into easy-to-browse folders. This allows users to
choose between incremental search and browsing dynamically created
menus to find and enjoy the most relevant video content on their
mobile handsets.

To ensure that users have access to the most current, timely and
relevant web video at their fingertips, vtap maintains a comprehensive
index of more than 150 million web videos that is continually updated.
Once you set up a profile you can collect, organise and share video as
you choose, whilst vtap remembers what you like to watch and saves
your favourites.

"Video is the future of the mobile Internet - users will soon turn
to video for the majority of their entertainment and information
needs, said Guru Pai, Vice President Strategy and Business
Development, Veveo. "vtap is the "on" button that enables mobile
consumers to stay informed and entertained, with the best video the
web has to offer."

vtap has been optimised for Sony Ericsson's multimedia handsets.
The service is available immediately for Sony Ericsson Java Platform 8
(JP8) enabled handsets models: Z770i, K850i, W910i, K660i, W890i,
Z750i and Sony Ericsson's JP7 models: W880i, K810i, T650i, K530i,
W580i, K770i, W660i. The service will support English, French,
Italian, German and Spanish languages.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Veveo

Headquartered in Andover, Mass., Veveo's mission is to become a
driving force behind the video age. The company's flagship product,
vtap is our first significant proof of concept. vtap offers consumers
a tap-tap easy way to browse, discover, keep and share videos from any
source on any imaginable topic. In a video-based world, vtap is the
consumer's on button. Veveo is actively working with mobile operators,
mobile manufacturers, TV providers, consumer electronics manufacturers
and content creators to deploy its vtap solutions. Veveo is backed by
venture funding from Matrix Partners, Northbridge Venture Partners,
Norwest Venture Partners and OmniCapital Group. For more information
about Veveo, please visit http://corporate.veveo.net. For more
information about vtap, please visit www.vtap.com.

Veveo Brings the World of Web Videos to Mobile Phones with vTap

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:40:45 -0400

ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veveo, Inc., a technology company delivering the full promise of web videos to mobile devices today introduced the vTapÃ¢â€žÂ¢ web video discovery service at vtap.com. vTap is available immediately to Apple Ã‚Â® iPhone and Microsoft Windows Mobile Ã‚Â® phone users.
The vTap service allows users to quickly and easily search, browse and view web videos available on the Internet from supported mobile phones. With the ever-increasing pool of available web video content, the primary challenge for mobile users is a streamlined means for finding the exact web video they want to see, when they want it, on the mobile platform of their choice. Searching and browsing video content is critically important for users of mobile devices because these devices do not have the full-sized keyboards or large displays associated with typical PC environments.
Ã¢â‚¬Å“Mobile users often find themselves in environments where there is a need for immediate fulfillment of an impromptu desire to be distracted, entertained or inspired,Ã¢â‚¬Â said Murali Aravamudan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Veveo. Ã¢â‚¬Å“vTap's comprehensive web video index, coupled with its intuitive search and browse discovery mechanisms, delivers a web video experience with the power and functionality of a traditional desktop application, on a mobile device.Ã¢â‚¬Â
The initial vTap service is already earning industry accolades, even ahead of todayÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s official launch of the service. Om Malik writes at NewTeeVee, Ã¢â‚¬Å“The service is quite accurate and, in my opinion, impressive.Ã¢â‚¬Â Robert Scoble writes at Scobleizer.com, Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is killer stuff and works on a variety of cell phones.Ã¢â‚¬Â
How it Works
With vTapÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s character-based incremental search, users begin receiving search results instantly, the moment they type the first character. The results are then refined as more characters are entered enabling users to find what they want without entering full keywords or phrases from constrained keypads. vTap also offers intuitive browsing support and dynamic clustering with hierarchical organization of search results for an effective browse experience.
For example: imagine trying to search for web videos of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger using a typical cell phone keypad. The user would have to type in 40 keystrokes of the keyword just to get "Arnold Schwarzenegger". With vTap just typing Ã¢â‚¬Å“SCHÃ¢â‚¬Â delivers a folder containing web clips related to Mr. Schwarzenegger. By browsing into the folder, the user can select the specific web clip they want to view.
By combining search and browse rather than treating them separately, vTap creates an incredibly intuitive method for discovering web videos. To ensure that users of the vTap service have access to the most current, timely, relevant web videos including long-tail content at their fingertips, Veveo maintains a comprehensive index of online web videos that is continually updated.
Service Offerings
Support for the Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile phones are available immediately. Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile phone users who want to try vTap can simply point their phoneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s web browser at http://vtap.com.
Veveo has plans to release vTap for JavaÃ¢â€žÂ¢-enabled phones to support users of popular cell phones from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson. To sign up for additional information about vTap or to demo vTap from your PC browser go to http://vtap.com.
About Veveo
Headquartered in Andover, Mass., Veveo brings the full power of Internet mobile video discoveryÃ¢â‚¬â€including searching, browsing and viewingÃ¢â‚¬â€to mobile devices with its vTap service. Veveo is actively working with TV providers, mobile operators, consumer electronics manufacturers and content creators to deploy its vTap service. Veveo is backed by $28 million in venture funding from Matrix Partners, Northbridge Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and OmniCapital Group.
For more information, about Veveo visit www.veveo.net or, to experience vTap, visit http://vtap.com.

Veveo related Press Releases

Web Video Discovery Goes Mobile: Sony Ericsson Customers To Have Access To Over 150 Million Web Videos On Their Mobile Phones

Veveo Brings the World of Web Videos to Mobile Phones with vTap