When the whole notion of streaming live video from your phone to the Internet came around, there were basically two companies doing it – Flixwagon and Qik. Both got their start on Nokia’s Symbian-powered smartphones – in fact, I even live-streamed my wedding using Nokia N82s, the Nokia DT-22 tripod, and Flixwagon.
Unfortunately, Flixwagon is pretty much gone at this point, but Qik has continued to skyrocket in functionality and popularity. In the U.S., Qik has become the default video calling solution for most Android-powered smartphones, with even carriers such as T-Mobile and Sprint touting the app as being pre-loaded on the latest and greatest smartphones. The leap from video-streaming to video-calling has also proved to be a great move for Qik.
I use Qik on a daily basis now, especially with a new baby in the house – it’s super easy to video chat with grandparents, or with my wife when I’m away on business. There’s almost no setup required – when my mom asked about it, all I did was spell out ‘Q-I-K’ for her and 15 minutes later, she was video calling me from her Android-powered smartphone! She was able to download and install the app and get an account setup that quickly and easily.
I’m pretty jazzed for Qik, who recently announced that they have over 10 million users across all its supported platforms (iOS, Android, Symbian), and are bringing their Premium services to the Android platform, finally. Qik Premium is $4.99/month and offers unlimited video storage as well as the ability to record and send HD and 3D video (if your phone can handle it, of course). I’ll gladly sign up – more for the ability to show support to the company who keeps me visually connected with my family, but also for the extra features.
If you haven’t used Qik, I would highly recommend it. It’s brilliant, and it’s cross-platform, so Android users can easily call iOS users, and vice versa. Qik has also been purchased by Skype, so hopefully in the future we’ll see integration so that you can easily call your Skype contacts with Qik. I’m also hoping that Skype lets the Qik team build the next version of the Skype mobile application – Qik is MUCH better on a phone in terms of resources and power management.
Congrats, Qik, keep up the great work!
Ricky Cadden 