Vuclip launches mobile video’s 'Google'

After spending a year in stealth mode as Blueapple.mobi, mobile video search and delivery provider Vuclip made its official launch today with a new look, as well as a video API program for online publishers. The addition of social networking-inspired functionality and a redesigned Web and Wapsite are aimed at positioning Vuclip as what chief administrative officer Craig Gatarz calls the Google-figure in the coming mobile video explosion.

“We believe mobile video is going to be as big as video has exploded online and perhaps even bigger given the nature of the handset as a personal device, and given the fact that in so many countries, like China and India, the phone is actually somebody’s first screen…We are poised in a very interesting market that is going to explode in the next couple of years,” Gatarz said.

Vuclip lets consumers worldwide search for any Internet video, transcode that video in real time and deliver it to a continuously updated roster of 2,000 mobile handsets. The company has been working on its technology since it was founded in 2004, as well as operating Beta trials of its API program this summer. With the redesign, users can now also create playlists, receive alerts about new videos and share their favorite videos with friends.

The Vuclip Video API Program, also unveiled today, will let publishers mobilize their content through Vuclip’s technology platform – oftentimes overnight, according to Gatarz. The program includes plug-and-play capabilities, video transcoding and delivery across handsets and networks, as well as customized branding. Publishers can leverage the program solely for an online widget for sending Web video content to the mobile handsets or to include a complete white label mobile platform that is rebranded to the publisher’s specifications.

Gatarz said that most consumers are interested in mobile video that is less than 10 minutes in length. As such, Vuclip is first focused on offering user-generated content and the long-tail of niche, regional and genre-based content. That being said, the company is also looking to source premium content from national broadcasters like CBS, but even these media companies are looking towards syndicating five to 10 minute “mini-sodes” of their full-length shows and features.