Profile: Veveo Simplifies Mobile Video With Vtap

Written by A. L. Friedman

Friday, September 7. 2007 at 05:50 PM EDT Post a comment

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There are enough obstacles to the widespread adoption of mobile video. There are a thousand different phones, all of which play different video formats on different networks. There are different screen sizes. The complexity is maddening. But even after all those hurdles have been cleared, how are you supposed to find the video you want? Well, before too long, you'll probably find yourself using Veveo's handy Vtap interface.

(Profile continues below...)

Founded: 2004

Location: Andover, Mass.

Size: 65 employees

Product: Intuitive search interface coupled with video indexing to improve video implementation.

Funding: Two rounds for $28 million total, from Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Parnters, and North Bridge Venture Partners

Competition: Video search sites such as Blinkx and Truveo

Vtap, which goes live on Monday, September 10, combines a thorough index of videos on the internet with an intelligent, predictive search interface. Thus, as CEO Murali Aravamudan demonstrated for us, you can find the trailer for The Terminator simply by typing the first few letters of the names of the movie's stars ("schw hamil" or something similar). He later typed in "ny" and was presented with videos from the New York Times, the Yankees, the Mets, and the Giants.

Veveo has developed three versions of the Vtap application to cover all of the popular mobile platforms. Ajax and Windows Mobile will be live on September 10, while Veveo will launch a J2ME version later in the fall. Vtap transcodes videos while you wait if a compatible format is not readily available (great for iPhones which cannot play Flash videos), and caches those transcoded clips for a short time for other users. The application even features a T9 interface for those without complete keyboards, called "number mode."

Aravamudan says the goal of Vtap is to enable an "impromptu experience;" it should take a short time to find a short video you wish to watch on your phone in the short amount of time you have. As a testament to the search feature's convenience, Murali showed us how Veveo indexed Wikipedia and hooked up the Vtap search feature. He then touted how this enabled him to answer his son's incessant questions without having to leave the couch. (And what is technology for if it can't help you be lazy?)

As cool as it is, everyone knows cool applications don't make any money on their own. So how did Veveo amass the $28 million over two rounds of funding? Well, aside from Vtap, the company seeks to license its search and indexing technology to IPTV services, whose users need similar help navigating a sea of menus with a remote control.

Veveo says it is already making money from licensing deals with IPTV providers, including one major carrier in the U.S. While Murali wouldn't comment on the specifics of that deal, some websites claim that Veveo powers the interactive programming guide for Verizon FiOS TV deployments, taking over for incumbent EPG vendor Microsoft.

Veveo is talking to handset and mobile device manufacturers about shipping hardware with Vtap, but there are no plans as of yet to license the technology. Instead, the company plans to put ads in the application after an initial beta-esque trial phase. When asked about the controversial move of surrounding somebody else's video content with ads, Aravamudan was adamant about sharing revenues with content providers, claiming to already be in talks with some media companies.

Vtap looks really nice, no question, especially on the iPhone (and presumably on the iPod Touch as well). And Vtap has no real equal. Video search engines abound on the web, most notably Blinkx and Truveo, but they must compete with general search engines and even YouTube itself. Vtap's focus on phone functionality is very appealing and I'm honestly confused as to why Veveo is opting for ad support over licensing. While I appreciate Aravamudan's dedication to the content providers, that doesn't have to be his problem.