Sony Launches “eyeVio” a YouTube Rival in Japan
Sony Corp, the Japanese entertainment giant, will launch a free video sharing service on Friday as it seeks synergy in its portable electronics and game business.
The name of the service is "eyeVio" and works just like Youtube…users upload and share video clips.
Users will also be able to download clips from the website onto the portable equipment – Walkmans and PSP game consoles.
Sony says that video sharing will only be allowed among friends and family….until the whole world becomes their friend that is.
There is a limit of 150 megabytes per user.
Clips will have a limited time availability of 24 hours to prevent inappropriate content and copyright violation.
Sony joins Yahoo Japan Corp and Nifty Corp in offering video-sharing services.
Will you use eyeVio?
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April 27, 2007
Doesn’t sound very compelling if they’re trying to compete with YouTube. YouTube already enjoys tremendous popularity in Japan, with millions of hits each month. While total traffic from Japan is lower than from the US, a higher percentage of Japan’s internet population visits the site compared to US internet users. YouTube also has no ridiculous 24-hour self-destruct mechanism or sharing restrictions, and you can upload an unlimited number of videos, up to 100MB each in size. I guess Sony’s 150MB isn’t that bad if you consider that your uploaded videos will disappear quickly, freeing up space for new ones.
The two biggest advantages I see Sony having: 1) Japanese interface and 2) Being able to (legally!) post material from its entire library of video content in order to draw people in. Downloading to Walkman or PSP is interesting, but downloading to cellphone would be better.
Maybe it will find its groove, but I still don’t see how a site that’s supposed to be about video sharing can succeed when putting such severe limitations on the sharing process. They also seem to be having some launch pains, with several messages already posted about the technical problems they’re experiencing. Well, they *did* post a “beta” label in the corner of the screen, so we can’t say we weren’t warned. Personally, though, I don’t care for this trend of rush-to-market websites that expect a “beta” label to smooth over their flaws. Reminds me of those horrid “Under Construction” labels that were all over the web in the late 90s…