Continuing my review of cool startups I saw at the World Mobile Congress - the next company I want to review is VIIF. VIIF is a German startup, potentially disruptive company that I was introduced to by investors, Neuhaus Venture Partners a German Venture Firm in Barcelona. I met the CEO Daniel Hoepfner who gave me all the scoop about the company. The company has taken advantage of the fact that most phones in Europe and Asia are now equipped to make video calls. However instead of using the functionality for a traditional video call, the call gets routed to a server on the other end which gives consumers access to on-demand TV and user generated video content. It works out of the box without any modifications of user’s mobile phone!
To access the service the user dials a phone number – like making a normal phone call. Instead of pushing the voice call button the user pushes the video call button. No browser usage, no special device, no software client download and no pre-configuration of the mobile phone are needed. As the user establishes a video call, the costs are independent of the transferred data traffic, the user simply pays per minute – as with a regular voice call.
When recording a video during a call, it is stored directly on the ViiF platform and is immediately available to other users. However, it is up the user whether to keep the stored video private or allow public. It also allows users to access and inform friends about the new video via an automatically generated SMS, including the call back number. Most Mobile TV ISVs we’ve seen offer broadcast TV. I like this because its content is on-demand and there the revenue model is simple – consumers will just be using their existing minutes… Check out more information at their web site http://www.viif.de
