Secret's Out: Skype Founders Fess Up to Vdio, a Potential Netflix Killer
Secret's Out: Skype Founders Fess Up to Vdio, a Potential Netflix Killer
Posted 10/18/2011 at 6:58am
| by Paul Lilly
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Video may have killed the radio star, but Vdio, the online video equivalent of Rdio, will do battle with Netflix for streaming supremacy. Up until yesterday, Vdio was a secret project headed by Skype creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, along with a modest team of heavy hitting players who aren't accustomed to failure, people with experience from Skype, Napster, Microsoft, TV Guide, and Apache. Does Netflix have anything to worry about?
Netflix always seems to have cause for concern, only usually it's self inflicted. Vdio, however, could very possibly emerge as a viable threat. Details are a little on the light side, and the only reason we know Vdio exists is because of the excellent detective work by Gigaom's Janko Roettgers. After going public with his many discoveries, the Vdio team figured it was pointless to keep the project a secret any longer and constructed a short list of FAQs.
Like Netflix, Vdio lets you instantly watch TV and movies. It's a closed funded project that's currently in beta and run by a separate team than the one working on Rdio. Vdio will debut in the U.K., but with offices in Santa Monica and Europe, it's a safe bet these guys are looking to land in the U.S.
Comparisons to Netflix will be inevitable, and the Vdio team isn't backing down from them. The company's answer to how Vdio is different from Netflix and LoveFilm? "We think people will love using Vdio." This is going to be fun.
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bling581
October 19, 2011 at 10:23am
"Does Netflix have anything to worry about?"
I think the only thing Netflix has to worry about right now is it's own CEO and board making idiotic moves. You know, like 62% price increases or splitting (or not splitting) the company.
warptek2010
October 19, 2011 at 1:03am
Unless you can actually replace cable or sat and stream ALL or most content (96%) for less than $10 a month this is just a fad. Problem is Hollywood is still locked in to the old system of distribution and NOT willing to lower fees and wanting tiered systems.
Holly Golightly
October 19, 2011 at 12:51am
Hopefully... A big hopefully... This will be able to stream TV online. I like the idea of discovering new shows by flicking through channels. So hopefully this Vdio service will take the world by storm.
Digital-Storm
October 18, 2011 at 10:20pm
"We think people will love using Vdio."
This line alone will tell you they will fail.
biggiebob12345
October 18, 2011 at 11:16am
Not a well written article. Some of us have no clue what Rdio is, so saying something is similar to it means nothing.
Other question that goes unanswered - is it a premium content streaming service....meaning are they going to get killed by licensing agreements like Netflix presently is?
n0b0dykn0ws
October 18, 2011 at 8:40am
It really doesn't matter how many titles they are able to stream, if they have limited device support like Amazon does, they'll fail.
n0b0dykn0ws
ferariman
October 18, 2011 at 7:08am
Like Netflic, Vdio lets you instantly watch TV and movies.
im not sure if u meant that netflix only has about 1 good movie, which is true, or if it was a simple mistake
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