Ashwin Navin recently discussed his expectations for the upcoming BitTorrent online video download store and its partnering with Netgear Inc to stream content from the PC to the TV.In a recent interview on the program MarketWatch, Ashwin Navin, BitTorrent Inc. CEO and co-founder, discussed the future of the company and how he hopes to compete against the rampant video piracy that the program is so famous for having unleashed. Next month BitTorrent Inc. plans to roll out its new online video download service, offering some 10,000 plus titles from the likes of Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Palm Pictures, Kadokawa Pictures USA, the UK's BBC, and others. What will make the service stand apart from other fledgling video distribution models is that it wants to make it something that consumers will find easy to use and a "better experience than piracy." As he noted: [We're]...Providing value to our members, not competing with them. We're hoping that this is a better experience than piracy and If were no competing effectively with piracy we're not going to win.The biggest reason why many online video distribution stores have failed I think is that they never really fully grasp what the consumers is looking for in the experience. If he is to be dissuaded from piracy, a service must compete on a variety levels which include price, speed, and selection. If a user is accustomed to obtaining video content for free and with relative ease and quickness then a service had better take heed of this if it is ever to have any hope for success. Judging from this interview it seems that Mr. Navin has grasped this fact in a way that has never been seen before and has great potential to "convert users into legal and paying customers." BitTorrent Inc. has also partnered with Netgear Inc. in the release of Netgear's new Digital Entertainer HD (EVA8000) media receiver device. The two have formed a collaboration to deliver HD videos, music, Internet radio and digital photos from your home PCs and storage devices to your HDTV. The receiver automatically locates, organizes and plays HD movies, TV shows, music, and pictures. It wail also stream internet-based video, news feeds, weather reports, or radio programs. But, what Navin importantly understands and discusses in the interview is that the problem many companies have had with bridging the gap between the PC and the TV is that many times companies try to get "...users to do something new, is complicated, and has questionable value." BitTorrent Inc. wants to work "with as many hardware platforms as they possibly can" to make this dream a reality, all the while noting the shortcomings in Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune in that users detest "proprietary locked in services." This is the key. Navin has previously referred to to iTunes DRM policy as "a time bomb waiting to happen," and said the same may be true for Microsoft's policy with Zune if the device becomes more popular. With over 135 million people having downloaded the BitTorrent client server, and the countless millions of others who are using a different client server like Azureus or uTorrent, the prospective market for a legitimate online video download service is quite promising. With an estimated 10,000 titles to be offered at its launch sometime next month, the success of its plan will will be evident soon enough. RELATED NEWS AND "HOW TO" GUIDES:µTorrent sells out, gets bought by BitTorrent Inc.BitTorrent keeps going legit'; Azureus to offer BBC shows ...Could BitTorrent Inc. be the new model for file-sharing legitimacy?Darn DRM, will our music ever be set free?BitTorrent torrent sites & search enginesuTorrent - A Beginner's guide to BitTorrent downloadingStream Rock N' Roll Concert Classics for free on "Wolfgang's Vault"20,000 YouTube music videos at your fingertipsvNES: play Nintendo games in your internet browserWatch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More On-Demand For FreeSOULXTC: "walkin' the streets of P2P"
|
 
|
members that voted for this story
|
